Zimbabwe's government will appeal against the acquittal of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on treason charges by mid-November, a state-owned newspaper reported on Sunday. Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party said the move showed President Robert Mugabe's government was pursuing a political vendetta against the opposition leader.
The Zimbabwe High Court acquitted Tsvangirai two weeks ago on charges of plotting to assassinate Mugabe and seize power ahead of a presidential election in 2002, saying the state had failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.
Acting attorney-general Bharat Patel - who had previously indicated the state was likely to challenge the verdict in the Supreme Court - was quoted by the government-controlled Sunday Mail newspaper as saying the appeal would be filed in the next two weeks.
"Certainly by the middle of November we would have filed the appeal," he was quoted as saying.
Lawyers say the state's appeal is not likely to be heard for several months.
Patel was unavailable for comment. But the Sunday Mail reported him saying that the decision to appeal was not political but based on strong legal grounds.
Tsvangirai's MDC said the state's appeal showed Mugabe's government was pursuing a vendetta against its leader and the opposition.
"Our position has always been that there was no criminal case in the treason charge and that this was political, and the High Court's decision demonstrated this point," MDC spokesman Paul Themba-Nyathi said.
"If they are going to appeal, it shows the government is still pursuing its political case but I think the courts will again find there is no criminal case," he said.
Analysts say Tsvangirai's acquittal has eased political tensions in the country but that they will rise again in the run-up to March parliamentary elections.
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