Judge sues Mugabe opponent after acquitting him of treason

The judge who acquitted Zimbabwean opposition politician Roy Bennett is now suing Bennett for a million dollars. Judge Chinembiri Bhunu says Bennett defamed him in comments he made to British media a day before he was cleared of treason charges.

Reuters

Roy Bennett and his supporters in the Movement for Democratic Change were hugely relieved when High Court Judge Chinembiri Bhunu cleared him of terrorism in May this year.
But now there’s a new twist to the case.

Bhunu says Bennett made “wrongful and defamatory” comments about him in a newspaper interview shortly before the ruling.

The white former coffee farmer is alleged to have told Britain’s Guardian newspaper, that Zimbabwe’s judiciary was compromised, and that he expected to be shown no mercy.

Bhunu says he’s suffered damage to his name, fame and reputation because of those comments. He has filed papers at the Harare High Court.

He is suing Bennett for one million US dollars plus interest and he wants Bennett to bear the cost of the law suit.

This is the latest in a string of setbacks for the former MP who is immensely popular with grassroots supporters of the Movement for Democratic Change.

Bennett is still waiting to hear if the Supreme Court will allow the state to challenge his acquittal on treason charges.

His lawyer says he is out of the country, but plainclothes detectives have visited two of his former addresses, looking for him.

Bennett’s supporters say this is all part of a campaign of harassment by his enemies in President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party.

A group of activists based in the Caribbean launched an online petition this week calling for Mugabe and his party to stop their alleged persecution of Bennett.