Lissu’s lawyer Rugemeleza Nshala said the charges against his client were politically driven.
A court in Tanzania has charged opposition party leader Tundu Lissu with treason after his arrest at a public rally in which he called for electoral reforms.
The charges against the chairman of the Chadema party will bring new scrutiny to President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s bid for re-election in October as critics accuse the government of cracking down on the opposition.
The opposition leader was forced into a police vehicle late on Wednesday after he had finished addressing a public rally in Mbinga in southern Tanzania.
“I came here, we held a peaceful meeting and now I understand the tactics of the police. We are now clear on the situation. I will not enter the vehicle. There is no need for that. We will sleep here. What is the problem?” Lissu asked the police, moments before his supporters were tear-gassed.
Lissu on Thursday afternoon arrived at the Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court in the commercial capital Dar-es-Salaam, appearing in high spirits and in the company of his lawyers and opposition party politicians.
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He was, however, not allowed to enter a plea on the treason charge.
He did plead not guilty to a separate charge of publishing false information and is due back in court on April 24.
Lissu’s lawyer Rugemeleza Nshala said the charges against his client were politically driven.
“You cannot separate these charges from politics,” Nshala told the Reuters news agency.
“He was doing campaigns to educate Chadema supporters, but they have turned it into charges.”
According to the charge sheet, Lissu, who survived being shot 16 times in an assassination attempt in 2017, made the comments in question in Dar-es-Salaam on April 3.
The charge sheet quoted him as saying: “It is true we say we will prevent the election. We will inspire rebellion. That is the way to get change.”
“So we are going to spoil this election. We are going to really disrupt. … We are going to spoil it very badly,” the charge sheet accused him of saying.
Hassan won plaudits after coming to power in 2021 for easing repression of political opponents and censorship of the media that proliferated under her predecessor John Magufuli, who died in office.
But she has faced mounting criticism from human rights activists over a series of arrests and unexplained abductions and killings of political opponents.
Hassan has said the government is committed to respecting human rights, and she ordered an investigation into reported abductions last year.