Trial opens amid chaos

Harare, Zimbabwe

Zimbabwean police wielding clubs tried to keep almost everyone—including diplomats, lawyers, and even the defendants—out of the trial of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai this week. Tsvangirai, who ran unsuccessfully against President Robert Mugabe in an election widely seen as stolen, is accused along with two aides of plotting the president’s murder. If convicted, he could face the death penalty. Most international observers agree with Tsvangirai’s lawyer that the case was trumped up, based on an obviously doctored audiotape, and Western diplomats are watching the trial closely. Some of them, though, could not get in. When Tsvangirai arrived at court, a crowd of supporters began to cheer, and enraged cops started beating them and anyone who tried to gain entrance. A German envoy was denied access, though the U.S. ambassador did ultimately muscle his way in. The trial will take several weeks.

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