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(TALKZIMBABWE, REUTERS) AG to impeach Hitschmann in Bennett trial

AG to impeach Hitschmann in Bennett trial
Reuters/TZG reporters
Tue, 12 Jan 2010 15:05:00 +0000

Peter Hitschmann arrives at the High Court in Harare on Tuesday Jan 12, 2010. File photo.

ZIMBABWE'S Attorney General said on Tuesday the state would move to have its key witness in the terrorism trial of an ally of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai impeached for giving contradicting evidence.

The trial of Roy Bennett — who faces a possible death sentence on charges of illegal possession of arms for purposes of committing terrorism, banditry and sabotage — resumed with chief state witness Peter Hitschmann testifying.

Bennett, treasurer-general in Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T), has denied the charges.

On Tuesday, Hitschmann, 49, a former police officer and arms dealer, disowned some of the weapons attributed to him by the state as well as e-mail print-outs purportedly showing communication between him and Bennett; although he had previously claimed they were genuine.

The state says Hitschmann is an accomplice witness and he made confessions implicating Bennett in 2006.

He gave a video testimony at the time of his arrest, which he is now disowning.

Hitschmann nodded his head in affirmation when asked by Attorney General Johannes Tomana, representing the state, if he knew Bennett.

"Yes, I know him. I first saw him on TV," he told the packed courtroom in Harare.

Attorney General Tomana told High Court judge Chinembiri Bhunu that Hitschmann's testimony was different from statements he made on his arrest, implicating Bennett, and would move to have him impeached by the court.

AG Tomana told the court: "The witness, who is an accomplice witness by the way, is getting to be a witness in favour of the accused; we are entitled to start impeachment procedures."

"Impeachment procedures are meant to deal with a scenario where an accused witness is clearly showing that he is unfavourably indisposed to the state case in favour of the defence," Tomana added.

Asked by judge Bhunu if the state wanted to impeach Hitschmann, Tomana said: "That is the foundation we are laying."

Hitschmann told the court he was a registered arms dealer when he was arrested in March 2006 and collected firearms from white commercial farmers who were forced off their land.

Many white commercial farmers were reservists in the then white-led Rhodesian army and kept arms for use against black liberation forces in the 1970s.

Hitschmann was jailed for illegal possession of dangerous weapons in 2006 but the court threw out the more serious terrorism charges and also found that he had licences for some of the weapons that he kept.

"I acted as a conduit and would accept those firearms, sell such weapons whose papers were in order on a commission basis and hand in all firearms not properly registered into the provincial (police) armoury," said Hitschmann.

The testimony is different from the state's case, which seeks to show that Bennett provided funds to Hitschmann to buy arms for an anti-government plot.

Justice Chinembiri Bhunu, who resumed the trial Tuesday following an adjournment in November, is expected to rule Wednesday on whether impeachment procedures by the state against Hitschmann can proceed.

Throughout the court proceedings Bennett, clad in a blue suit, matching blue tie and a light blue shirt sat motionless. He laughed when Hitschmann said he first saw Bennett on tv punching Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa in Parliament.

Bennett was jailed for assault in 2004 after he punched the minister during a heated debate in parliament.

Labels: COURTS, JOHANNES TOMANA, MDC VIOLENCE, PETR HITSCHMANN, ROY BENNETT

posted by MrK @ 8:59 AM