MUTARE -- A Zimbabwean magistrate on Wednesday slapped diamond dealer Newman Chiadzwa with a five-year jail term for illegal possession of 8,6kg of the precious stones worth about US$30 million.

Magistrate Billiard Musakwa also fined Chiadzwa U$32 000 in addition to the jail term after a protracted court battle.

His lawyer, Chris Ndlovu said he will appeal against the conviction and sentence at the High Court.

“We are filing appeal papers tomorrow (today),” Ndlovu said after the ruling.

Chiadzwa hogged the limelight stormed into international prominence after giving damning evidence to the Kimberly Processing (KP) Certification Scheme delegation that visited the controversial Chiadzwa diamond field last year.

He led the KP delegation to what he claimed was a mass grave in the diamond field, also known as Marange. Chiadzwa said the mass grave contained hundreds of bodies of illegal miners and dealers shot dead by security forces sent to clear the area of illegal panners.

Chiadzwa, who also posed as “Chief Chiadzwa” attracted the full wrath of President Robert Mugabe’s government after he volunteered the information to the KP. His damning information was used as evidence to prove the Chiadzwa diamonds were bloody and should not be allowed on the international market.

He was subsequently arrested after he was found in possession of the diamonds. His lawyer argued he kept the diamonds on behalf of the community.

The lawyer said the diamonds were mined at a time the government had openly encouraged villagers to mine the gems and sell to the Mineral Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ).

But the court threw out the defence.

Marange is one of the world’s most controversial diamond fields and human rights groups have been pushing for a ban on Zimbabwean diamonds but last November, the country escaped a KP ban with the global body giving Harare a June 2010 deadline to make reforms to comply with its regulations. – ZimOnline