Kenneth Kaunda is due in court to face charges relating to an attempted coup attempt.

He is one of 81 defendants charged with either directly participating in the coup attempt or concealing knowledge of it from the Zambian authorities.

The hearing, with more than 150 witnesses listed, could be the biggest treason trial in Zambia's history.

But lawyers acting for Mr Kaunda are still hoping that the case against him will be dropped.

Coup crushed

He has been charged with knowing about preparations for a military coup last October but failing to inform the Zambian authorities.

The badly organised coup attempt was quickly crushed by loyal forces of the Zambian Army.

In the aftermath, the government arrested scores of opposition activists and interrogated them about their alleged involvement.

Mr Kaunda was detained in December and subsequently moved from jail to house-arrest.

He was prevented from speaking publicly but has managed to leak several statements to the media criticising the Zambian government and in particular President Frederick Chiluba.

Opposition gaining support

Government opponents regard the trial as a crude attempt to silence opposition political leaders at a time when they are gaining increasing popular support.

High unemployment and economic stagnation in Zambia has led to widespread disillusion among the voting public who ended Mr Kaunda's 27 years in power at multi-party elections in 1991.