ZIMBABWE: Zimbabwe's main opposition leader, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai,goes on trial today charged with plotting the assassination of President Robert Mugabe.
Mr Tsvangirai faces the death penalty if convicted of treason on the basis of a videocassette purportedly showing him discussing Mr Mugabe's assassination with consultants in Canada.
His Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said the release of the video last February, when it was aired on Australian television, was designed to sideline Mr Tsvangirai ahead of the presidential election one month later.
Mr Tsvangirai went on to lose to Mr Mugabe by more than 400,000 votes in a result that was rejected by the MDC and most Western observers as widely rigged.
The opposition claims that the treason charges have been brought as retribution against Mr Tsvangirai, a former trade unionist and the only opponent to have posed a serious threat to Mr Mugabe during his 22 years in power.
Standing trial with him are the MDC secretary-general, Mr Welshman Ncube, and the shadow agriculture minister, Mr Renson Gasela, who both appear in the video.
The MDC has confirmed that the three party officials met the consultants, but say the video footage was doctored to incriminate them.
The trial was initially scheduled for November, but the MDC lawyers successfully applied for a postponement so that they could receive a copy of the videotape, said to have been heavily edited.