US embassy cable - 03HARARE568

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 000568 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR J. FRAZER 
LONDON FOR C. GURNEY 
PARIS FOR C. NEARY 
NAIROBI FOR T. PFLAUMER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/18/2013 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, ZI 
SUBJECT: GOOD BYE ARI, HELLO TARA: TSVANGIRAI TRIAL PART V 
 
REF: A. HARARE 484 
 
     B. HARARE 360 
     C. HARARE 313 
     D. HARARE 259 
 
Classified By: POLITICAL OFFICER KIMBERLY JEMISON FOR REASONS 1.5 B & D 
 
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Summary 
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1. (C) The treason trial of Movement for Democratic Change 
(MDC) officials Morgan Tsvangirai, Welshman Ncube, and Renson 
Gasela, which entered its fifth week on March 10, took a step 
forward with the completion of the questioning of Ari Ben- 
Menashe, the state's star witness.  The pace of the trial 
quickened considerably once the next witness, Ben-Menashe,s 
personal assistant, Tara Thomas, took the stand.  At first, 
her testimony seemed to favor the prosecution's case, but by 
week's end it was difficult to tell which side was benefiting 
from her testimony.  End Summary. 
 
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No More Ben-Menashe 
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2. (U) On March 11, lead defense attorney George Bizos, 
Deputy Attorney General Bharat Patel, and Presiding Judge 
Garwe completed their questioning of the state's star 
witness, Ari Ben-Menashe.  Bizos completed his 
cross-examination on March 10, after asking Ben-Menashe final 
questions about Dickens and Madson,s (D&M) amateurish 
production of the videotape, requesting the original 
videotape and some faxes, and objecting to Ben-Menashe 
leaving the court without first submitting these pieces of 
evidence.  Patel began the re-direct examination on March 10 
with questions about Ben-Menashe,s educational and 
professional background, clearly trying to prove the 
witness's competence to manage a political consulting firm. 
He finished on March 11 asking questions about passages on 
the videotape, the affidavit Ben-Menashe gave to the police, 
Foreign Agents Registration Act registration, and what D&M 
would be expected to do if hired by the MDC. 
 
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Witness Number 2: Tara Thomas 
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3. (U) On March 11, the state called its next witness, Tara 
Thomas, personal assistant to Ben-Menashe.  Thomas appeared 
to be a much better witness than Ben-Menashe.  She was 
relaxed and respectful to the court, unlike Ben-Menashe. 
During the direct examination, Thomas seemed composed and 
tried to be as specific in her details as possible, although 
she did often confused testimony several times.  Patel asked 
Thomas about the audiotaped meeting with Tsvangirai in 
England and the transcript of the meeting.  Patel went over 
the second transcript of the Montreal meeting with her and 
also reviewed the videotape. 
 
4.  (U) On March 12, the defense brought a motion before the 
judge to have Thomas view the videotape using a clean 
transcript rather than the annotated one she had been using, 
which appeared to have been guiding her testimony.  Garwe 
upheld the defense objection and the prosecution had to find 
a clean copy.  Patel asked her several speculative questions 
about what she thought Alexander Legault, his business 
partner, Ben-Menashe, and Morgan Tsvangirai were thinking or 
meant to say.  Bizos objected that the witness could not 
possibly know what the various speakers were thinking, but 
his objections were overruled.  Thomas confirmed that the 
transcript was not accurate because they could not understand 
everything on the tape. 
 
5.  (U) On March 14, the defense began its cross examination. 
 During the cross-examination, Thomas contradicted some of 
the evidence that had been given by Ben-Menashe.  Thomas 
confirmed that a signed agreement between the MDC and 
Ben-Menashe was legitimate, contrary to Ben-Menashe,s 
testimony, and she contradicted Ben-Menashe on the number of 
employees at D&M and what they do. 
 
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Interest Waning 
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6. (U) The courtroom was sparsely populated this past week. 
The MDC mobilized a group of 30 or so female members aged 45 
to 60 to attend the trial to show support.  They were present 
for at least two days.   If it weren't for these women, the 
lower gallery would have been half full.  The upper gallery 
was empty.  The press area had no more than 7 reporters 
present on average. 
 
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Comment 
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7.  (C) Tara Thomas made for a refreshing change from 
Ben-Menashe.  The pace of the trial picked up considerably 
without the frequent adjournments caused by Ben-Menashe's 
diatribes.  While Thomas was not necessarily more credible 
than Ben-Menashe, she appeared much more calm and less 
combative.  This could help create a sense that she is more 
believable, regardless of the substance of her testimony. 
The court continued to allow the prosecution's witness 
unusual latitude and did not seem to be enforcing any 
acknowledged rules of evidence.  End Comment. 
SULLIVAN