Radio France Internationale (Paris)

Zimbabwe: Supreme Court Weighs Bennett Appeal, Bennett Speaks Out

Zimbabwe's Supreme Court is considering whether to accept an appeal in the case of a top aide to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who was cleared of treason charges in May.

On Wednesday, the court said it would adjourn indefinitely in order to study bulky court records from the high court trial that acquitted Roy Bennett, who had been charged with plotting to overthrow President Robert Mugabe.

A high court judge ruled the state had failed to connect him to the attempted coup d'etat.

Bennett, a white farmer who had been designated deputy agriculture minister in the unity government, tells RFI that the new move demonstrates "there is a one-sided arrangement in this government...They are not interested in working together. Wherever they're able to exercise the power they still maintain fully, they do."

Bennett says the military junta ruling the country is "running Mugabe", whom he called a "senile old man."

Asked if he feared more reprisals, Bennett responded, "What more can they do to me? They've imprisoned me, they've taken everything I own...There's absolutely no way one can deliver real change unless you confront the problems that exist."


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