The treason trial against Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was set to proceed after the country's High Court yesterday upheld charges that he plotted to kill President Robert Mugabe.

"I'm satisfied there is no basis on which accused number one (Tsvangirai) can be discharged... The application for his discharge is dismissed," judge Paddington Garwe told a hearing in Harare.

He said that two other senior officials from the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) had been cleared of treason charges against them.

Tsvangirai and his two co-defendants had denied the charges, which hinge on secret recordings made of meetings held in late 2001, in which they allegedly called for Mugabe to be "eliminated".

Tsvangirai - who faces another treason charge arising from his organising anti-government protests in June - faces the death sentence if convicted in the trial that has so far dragged on for six months.

The defence had wanted all three to be cleared, claiming there was lack of evidence that Tsvangirai plotted the killing of Mugabe when he discussed his "elimination" at a meeting with political consultant Ari Ben Menashe in 2001.

The court had over the months been addressed at length by the defence on the credibility of Ben Menashe and the reliability of the video evidence which the opposition claimed had been doctored.

But Garwe said in his judgement yesterday: "The available evidence shows a prima facie case against him (Tsvangirai)".

MDC lawmaker and Secretary General Welshman Ncube and shadow agriculture minister Renson Gasela were discharged on grounds that only one witness - Ben Menashe - gave evidence against them while Zimbabwean law requires at least two witnesses.

State prosecutors said they would consider appealing the decision in favour of Ncube and Gasela.

The trio has been on trial since February this year and in July Garwe adjourned the case to consider the defence application to have the charges dismissed.

Defense lawyer George Bizos said that Ben Menashe, who is the key state witness, was of "questionable credibility" and "a notorious and demonstrable liar".

He also described Menashe and his personal assistant, Tara Thomas, as "untruthful".

The opposition claims it was set up by the government to discredit Tsvangirai in the run up to the March 2002 presidential polls, which were won by Mugabe.

Garwe said despite the defence's questioning of the evidence, it was not denied that three meetings took place at which there was "talk of setting up a transition government and the involvement of the military".

Portions of the video taken of the third meeting held in Montreal in December 2001 were audible enough to be used as evidence, said Garwe. – Sapa-AFP.