Harare, November 23, 2009 – The investigating officer in Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) treasurer general Roy Bennett’s terrorism trial stunned a Harare court Monday when he said he was yet to conclude investigations in the trial of the deputy agriculture minister designate.

Chief Superintendent Sipho James Makone told the court while testifying in Bennett’s trial he was yet to obtain relevant documentation which reveals Peter Micheal Hitchmann’s Mozambican account, which the state says was used by Bennett to deposit cash to purchase arms.

Hitschmann, who is alleged to be an accomplice to Bennett, is also the key witness in Bennett’s trial.

The Hitschman Connection

“The entire summary of your evidence in the state’s case includes information you know is false,” Bennett’s lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa, told the High Court in Harare.

Bennett, an ally of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, was arrested in February and is accused of illegal possession of weapons for terrorism, banditry and insurgency.

Tsvangirai’s MDC last month briefly stopped cooperating in a government with President Robert Mugabe over a dispute over their power-sharing deal. The trial against Bennett, the party’s treasurer-general, remains a major cause of friction.

Mtetwa said that the first state witness, a senior police officer who investigated the matter, had failed to link Bennett to a plot against Mugabe’s government in 2006.

Sipho Makone, a chief superintendent in the police, had said police found evidence that Bennett paid licensed Zimbabwean arms dealer Peter Hitschmann to buy weapons to assassinate senior government officials.

Hitschmann was acquitted of terrorism charges in 2006 but served jail time for possessing dangerous weapons — including six sub-machine guns and two machine guns — which have also been produced in Bennett’s trial.

But Mtetwa said the police had failed to establish a link between Bennett and Hitschmann, including charges that the MDC’s treasurer-general paid $5,000 into a bank account held by the arms dealer in Mozambique to purchase weapons.

Makone said Hitschmann had an account in Mozambique but the prosecution had yet to establish that Bennett had deposited any money.

“You have no evidence whatsoever that the accused was being implicated by Histchmann,” Mtetwa said.

Makone has told the court that Histchmann confessed in 2006, in a 2006 video recording made by army and intelligence officers, and in an affidavit, that Bennett was part of the plot.

The evidence was never used in the trial of Hitschmann, who has disowned the confessions, saying he was tortured into making them. Hitschmann has now written to the attorney-general saying he has no evidence to give against Bennett.

Makone, the first state witness among 13 witnesses lined up to give evidence, said he did not find a need during the trial of Hitschmann to produce documentation that confirmed the details of the account.

The court has already barred any evidence brought by the police which was purportedly extracted through confessions by Hitschmann during investigations.Hitschmann was absolved of any possession of dangerous weapons although he served a two and a half year jail term for possessing unlicenced weapons.

The defence, led by Beatrice Mtetwa said: “How can they bring a case to a trial when they have not completed their investigations?” “How is Bennett supposed to respond to what they say they had not established through their investigations. What if they discover that they are trying him is based on what is not real? This is inadmissible evidence that we are saying should be struck out. The said amounts deposited in Hitschmann’s account on 13 February 2006 has not yet been supported in any way by the evidence.”

The defence is also fighting to have the evidence brought by the state through the alleged exchange of emails by Bennett and Hitschmann struck off. The defence says the laptop which was confiscated from Hitschmann was left in the custody of state security agents who tampered with it.

The defence further submits it was very possible for emails to be constructed by anybody and still pretend they belonged to another person.

The state has barred the production of a police diary of investigations that states the laptop was in the custody of the police during Hitschmann’s arrest. The state says this would compromise state security.

Unprecedented security and unexpected drama have characterised the ongoing trial of Senator Roy Bennett, with Attorney General Johannes Tomana causing a spectacle with his team of almost a dozen bodyguards.

The elaborate security arrangements around Tomana, who is personally leading the State case against Bennett, has caused an outcry in the legal fraternity. Bennett (52) faces charges of possessing dangerous weapons for terrorism as well as inciting acts of insurgency.

A total of 13 witnesses, who include firearms dealer Peter Michael Hitschmann, Bennett’s co-accused are set to testify in the high profile case.

But the state is in a quandary after its star witness, Hitschmann said he implicated Bennett after being viciously tortured b ythe police during his interrogation four years ago.

Tomana’s Security Nightmare

Tomana’s arrival at court has caused curious stares. While initially his motorcade would drop him off at the entrance of the High Court, where he would be mobbed by journalists eager to get a quotation, he is now driving straight into the judges’ parking bay, to keep reporters at bay. Arriving in his latest S-Class Mercedes Benz with two escort twin cab trucks laden with intelligence officers, Tomana’s kind of security is unprecedented for a government law officer. But then Tomana is no ordinary government chief law officer.

His continued tenure as Attorney General is an outstanding issue threatennig to derail the troubled coalition administration between President Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara. Tsvangirai’s party, the mainstream MDC wants Tomana replaced with an official agreed upon by all the three parties.

Mugabe says Tomana was appointed constitutionally last year before the MDC had joined government. To highlight the importance of Tomana, he has been provided with security never seen before for a chief law officer.

The armed intelligence operatives are literally ringing the High Court in an “all-out” operation to protect Tomana, who is personally leading the State case, indicating the high priority President Mugabe has placed on the Bennett case.

The trial opened two weeks ago.

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