Mugabe wife sues over diamond story
The wife of Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwean president, has filed a suit against a newspaper demanding $15m for publishing leaked US cables on her alleged involvement in illicit diamond trading.
Last week The Standard newspaper, quoting a 2008 cable sent by the US ambassador to Harare, reported that Grace Mugabe had profited from illegal diamonds mining.
The cable to Washington that was leaked by whistleblower website WikiLeaks said Zimbabwe's first lady gained millions of dollars from diamond mining in the Marange district of eastern Zimbabwe.
State-owned Herald newspaper on Wednesday said Grace Mugabe filed the defamation suit against The Standard demanding damages over the article.
The allegations cover a period before the formation of a unity government between Mugabe, and Morgan Tsvangirai, the prime minister, in February 2009.
In the high court papers filed yesterday, Grace Mugabe said the story was false and malicious and that readers of the paper would believe it.
"This is an imputation of criminality and association with violations of human rights. Whatever it [The Standard] prints is regarded as gospel truth by those people in Zimbabwe and abroad.
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