Opposition Leader Faces Treason Case in Zimbabwe

The nation’s main opposition leader was charged Monday with treason for allegedly plotting to assassinate President Robert Mugabe, but he denied the allegations and said he would continue campaigning for elections less than two weeks away.

“This whole thing is contrived to damage me politically,” candidate Morgan Tsvangirai said. “The timing is obvious. This was all along [the ruling party] strategy to eliminate me from the race.”

The election is scheduled for March 9 and 10. Mugabe, the southern African nation’s only leader since it won independence from Britain in 1980, is fighting for his political life as Zimbabwe’s economy collapses and political violence rages.

Police questioned Tsvangirai, president of the Movement for Democratic Change, Zimbabwe’s main opposition party, for two hours Monday. He was charged with treason, released and told he would be summoned later, he said. Treason convictions carry the death penalty in Zimbabwe.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the charge “falls against a backdrop of a very well-documented campaign of violence and intimidation against the opposition.”

“We’re aware of no convincing evidence that there’s any basis for these allegations,” Boucher said.