Hitschmann denied bail

By Violet Gonda
3 November 2006

Peter Michael Hitschmann will stay in police custody indefinitely after the High Court, which ended its circuit in Mutare on Friday, refused to grant him bail. Defence lawyer Trust Maanda said; “The court dismissed the bail application on the basis that the charge that our client is facing is a serious charge and therefore he is not a candidate for bail.”

The lawyer said he will appeal to the Supreme Court, especially as the next time the High Court will sit in Mutare will be in March 2007. Maanda said; “And that is basically why we were making the bail application because we were saying if the court cannot complete this case during this circuit - this session, Mr Hitschmann’s incarceration will be indefinite and bail was denied. But if he is to be tried it maybe some time next year on March, when the session sits again in Mutare.”

Hitschmann was arrested in March after being accused of illegally stocking piling arms and plotting to assassinate Mugabe. But it is largely believed he has been targeted because he played a key role in supporting the Movement for Democratic Change in Manicaland. Several MDC officials and policemen were initially arrested and detained for some days in connection with this case. They were later released without charge due to a lack of evidence.

Zimbabwe army Major Israel Phiri, who is the chief state witness in the trial, told the High Court Wednesday that the former white soldier not only plotted to assassinate Robert Mugabe, but had also planned to kill some white farmers as well as two prominent businessmen.

Major Phiri reportedly told Judge Alfas Chitakunye that he went under cover for three months investigating the Zimbabwe Freedom Movement (ZFM), a movement which the state claims was behind the plot to murder Mugabe. Phiri admitted to the court that in those 3 months he had not found any “material evidence” proving the existence of this ZFM. He said he had also failed to identify where the organisation was based even though his own testimony was that Hitschmann himself had told him the ZFM had members in Mutare, Bulawayo and Masvingo.

Phiri’s testimony has given more weight to the MDC’s assertions that the whole case has been manufactured by the ruling party to discredit the opposition. He was expected to be cross-examined by the defence on Thursday.