Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC)vice president Tendai Biti has once again filed an urgent chamber application at the High Court seeking to have his criminal assault stayed at the lower Court.
He is accused of verbally assaulting a Russian investor Tatiana Aleshina at the Harare magistrates court in 2020.
Trial is already underway but Biti has been trying to stop his prosecution with several requests trashed by both the Magistrate and High Court.
This time Biti wants his trial stopped pending determination of an application for review of his application for referral to Constitutional Court.
He has cited magistrate Vongai Muchuchuti-Guuriro and prosecutor Michael Reza as the first and second respondents.
Reza accused Biti of abusing court processes telling court that the lawmaker made similar applications in the past and were all dismissed.
Biti submitted that his application was necessitated by the dismissal of his request for his matter to be referred to the Constitutional Court.
"The court's decision to proceed with the trial notwithstanding my notice to request a referral of the matter to the Constitutional Court was grossly irregular and violated my constitutional rights to the protection and benefit of the law.
"The Court also held that it was now functus officio without hearing what I intended to say. Further the request that I intended to make related to issues I had not raised," reads part of his application.
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He also accused the magistrate of being malicious.
The opposition legislator seeks the court to start the trial afresh before a different magistrate.
However, in opposing the application Reza said Biti's requests were misplaced.
"In his bundle of documents the applicant has not attached the ruling by the 1st Respondent (Muchuchuti-Guwuriro) that he is attacking."
He also said a similar application was heard and dismissed recently by another judge Rogers Manyangadze.
"He has submitted this latest one in a clear case of abuse of court process. In view of the foregoing, this application is not urgent at all. It has been heard and determined before by another court.
"He has not submitted anything new to suggest that another judge may rule differently."
A full hearing is pending.
