Mugabe may face torture charge at Paris summit

The human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell will file a complaint this morning with the general prosecutor of Paris requesting that Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwean President, be arrested on torture charges when he arrives for a two-day summit of African leaders.

The legal action, using the UN Convention Against Torture, which France has signed, is likely to be symbolic because there is no precedent of a foreign leader being prosecuted in France while in office.

The move is almost certain to ensure Zimbabwe dominates the news during the Franco-African summit, which begins today. Mr Tatchell said: "The fact that the French government is prepared to wine and dine Mugabe despite European sanctions against him flies in the face of noble French ideals of justice and liberty. If Slobodan Milosevic can be put on trial for human rights abuses, why can't Robert Mugabe?''

Mr Tatchell's protest will be supported by members of Zimbabwe's opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change including Tom Spicer, whose affidavit of torture by secret police will be used to back the arrest application.

Mr Tatchell's move is likely to ensure that Zimbabwe displaces Ivory Coast as the main focus of attention at the summit. The delegation from Ivory Coast was downgraded yesterday when President Laurent Gbagbo, who is under threat from rebels controlling half of his country, said he would send his Prime Minister, Seydou Diarra.

France badly needs some good news to emerge from the summit. President Jacques Chirac takes a strong interest in Africa and wants French influence to extend beyond French-speaking countries.