AG fails to extract confession from witness
in [Physics]
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From: as on 31 Jul 2010 06:14 AG fails to extract confession from witness http://www.zimonline.co.za/ by Own Correspondents Wednesday 27 January 2010 HARARE - The prosecution on Tuesday tried without success to cajole and lure its chief witness Michael Peter Hitschmann - earlier declared hostile by the court - into admitting that he had direct links with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's top aide, Roy Bennett, who is on trial for treason. Attorney General (AG) Johannes Tomana - who started cross-examining Hitschmann on Monday after he was declared a hostile witness by High Court Judge Chinembiri Bhunu, failed to get the witness to give information that could link the MDC treasurer general to the charges he is facing when he finished his cross examination on Tuesday. The trial continues Wednesday with the defence team led by Beatrice Mtetwa questioning Hitschmann to clarify statements he made under cross examination from Tomana. Hitschmann maintained his previous testimony distancing himself from messages that the state claims link Bennett to a plot to destabilise the country through acts of banditry and terrorism. "I don't know the password to the emails of those documents. Are we together, I could not have a password to an email that is not mine," said Hitschmann, adding that the purported emails had been shown to him by state agents and were never printed from his laptop in his presence. The AG also said arms of war found in Hitschmann's possession were procured with financial assistance from Bennett, a claim the Mutare firearms dealer and former policeman denied, saying although he had a Mozambican bank account it was for payments of businesses he would have conducted in that country since 1985. Hitschmann said he offered bodyguard services in the former Portuguese colony and also had properties there, among other businesses. Prosecutors allege Hitschmann was paid by Bennett to buy weapons to assassinate President Robert Mugabe. They say Hitschmann implicated Bennett in 2006 when he was arrested after being found in possession of firearms, claims the gun dealer denies saying he was tortured into making the confessions during interrogation at a military barracks in March that year. Bennett, who faces a possible death sentence if convicted in a case that has heightened tensions in Zimbabwe's fragile coalition government - formed last February by MDC leader Tsvangirai and Mugabe after a violent election in 2008 - has pleaded not guilty to the treason charges levelled against him. The MDC says the case against Bennett, Tsvangirai's nominee for deputy agriculture minister, is politically motivated and aimed at keeping him out of government. - ZimOnline |