Lawyer: Bennett "terrorism" evidence obtained under torture (Roundup)

Nov 9, 2009, 11:00 GMT

Harare - On the first day of his terrorism trial Monday, Zimbabwean politician Roy Bennett's lawyers accused the state of basing its case against him on a confession that was allegedly obtained under torture.

Bennett, 52, a senior member of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), is charged with possessing weapons with the intention to commit insurgency, sabotage, terrorism and banditry in 2006.

His lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa told the High Court during preliminary arguments Monday that he would be pleading not guilty.

Mtetwa accused the state of basing its case on a confession that was allegedly extracted under torture from convicted arms dealer Mike Peter Hirschman and called for an investigation into attorney-general Johannes Tomana.

Judge Chinembiri Bhunu adjourned the case until Wednesday.

Hirschman was arrested in 2005, also on charges of plotting to overthrow President Robert Mugabe. The charges were later downgraded to weapons possession in a case in which the evidence allegedly obtained under torture was ruled inadmissible by the judge.

Bennett, a former white farmer, was arrested on the day in February that Mugabe swore in the new unity government.

The MDC say the charges are a trumped-up attempt at keeping him out of government.

Tsvangirai had nominated Bennett for the post of deputy agriculture minister but Mugabe has refused since to swear him in.

His trial was initially supposed to start last month at a lower, provincial court but state prosecutors obtained that the case be moved to the High Court because of the gravity of the charges.

The state's relentless pursuit of Bennett, whose lands were seized during the country's lawless land reform campaign, was the trigger for the MDC's recent three-week boycott of the shaky eight-month-old government.

The MDC accused Zanu-PF of being a 'dishonest and unreliable partner.'

That boycott ended last week after Tsvangirai agreed at regionally-brokered talks in Mozambique to give Zanu-PF more time to reform.