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Zim journos wait for trial
12/01/2004 15:19 - (SA)
Harare - Three journalists remained in police custody on Monday while their lawyers held talks with government counsel over allegations that they criminally defamed President Robert Mugabe.
The three were arrested on Saturday after publishing a front page report in the weekly "The Independent" saying that Mugabe had used one of the national airline's jets to go on vacation in Asia with his family and a small party of aides.
Iden Wetherell, 55, the British-born editor, news editor Vincent Kahiya and reporter Dumisani Muleya were to have appeared in court on Monday for a bail hearing, but lawyer Linda Cook said by noon they still had not been brought from their cells.
Charges 'spurious' and 'ludicrous'
"The charges are really spurious. They (the government) have admitted the plane was used. It is ludicrous," said Cook.
Information Minister Jonathan Moyo described the report as "blasphemous" and said the detained journalists face two years in jail if any details are found to be incorrect.
Last month, the paper reported that Mugabe took an airliner for nine days for a United Nations meeting in Geneva and a visit to Egypt, forcing the national airline to charter another jet for more than US$1 million.
Mugabe, 79, has taken several vacations in Southeast Asia with his young wife and children since he and other ruling party leaders were barred from visiting Europe and the United States under visa restrictions imposed after Zimbabwe's disputed presidential elections in 2002.
Independent election observers said the polls, narrowly won by Mugabe, were swayed by political violence, corruption and vote rigging.
Meanwhile, at the formal opening of the court year on Monday, Judge President of the High Court Paddington Garwe said fraud and corruption cases involving billions of dollars could erode the fabric of Zimbabwean society.
Garwe, a relative of Mugabe's, has received one of the previously white-owned farms that were confiscated by the government under its land reform policy.
"Zimbabwe as a country is going through trying times," Garwe said. "Serious cases of fraud and corruption currently involving billions of dollars are now being reported. These have the capacity to erode the fabric of society."
Many prominent lawyers protested by staying away from the normally crowded opening ceremony.
- AP
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