MUTARE, Zimbabwe October 14 Sapa-AFP

A Zimbabwe court Wednesday ordered ministerial nominee Roy
Bennett, a close aide to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, back to
jail until his trial begins next week.

Magistrate Lucy Mungwari announced the trial would start on
October 19 in the High Court of Mutare and said: "The accused
person shall be committed to prison" until it began.

Bennett was Tsvangirai's pick as deputy agriculture minister but
was arrested only an hour before President Robert Mugabe swore in
the country's unity government on February 13.

He was released on bail a month later.

The charges against him stemmed from an alleged plot to
assassinate Mugabe in 2006.

He is accused of possessing arms for the purposes of banditry,
terrorism and inciting acts of insurgency.

Update :

ZIMBABWE MINISTER-DESIGNATE BENNETT BACK BEHIND BARS PENDING TRIAL
__________________________________________________________________
A court in Zimbabwe has ordered the re-imprisonment of senior
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) politician Roy Bennett in a
development the MDC says has serious implications for the country's
fragile coalition government.

A judge in Mutare magistrate's court granted an application by
state prosecutors for Bennett, 52, to be indicted in the High Court
for alleged possession of weapons with intent to commit banditry,
insurgency and terrorism.

His case had been due to be heard by the Mutare court but
prosecutors said it should be heard by the higher court because of
the seriousness of the charges.

The move saw Bennett's bail automatically revoked.

"I commit the accused to prison. If there is any defect in the
process, the accused should raise it with the High Court,"
magistrate Lucy Mungwari said, handing down ruling in a crowded
courtroom.

A visibly shocked Bennett, clad in khaki trousers, brown shoes
and a check shirt was immediately whisked away by prison guards.

Bennett is treasurer of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC
and a former white farmer, who was named by Tsvangirai for the post
of deputy agriculture minister in the country's power-sharing
government.

On the day the new cabinet was sworn in in February he was
arrested and charged with plotting terrorism. The charges were
later downgraded. Bennett denies the charges.

The MDC reacted angrily to Bennett's re-imprisonment, with party
spokesman Nelson Chamisa calling it a "serious abuse of the law
which will affect the coalition government."

"It is no longer prosecution but persecution," Chamisa charged,
warning the MDC would not "sit and watch this abuse go on."
Bennett's lawyer Trust Maanda said he was trying to secure his
client's release.

Bennett's trial had been due to start on Tuesday in the Mutare
court. It is now set down for next week in the High Court.

The MDC accuses the Mugabe-loyal attorney general's office of
conspiring to keep Bennett, whose farm was seized by Zanu-PF
loyalists during the country's controversial land reform campaign -
out of government.

Despite the MDC being in government, its members continue to be
harassed, routinely detained and charged in suspicious
circumstances.



Source : Sapa-dpa /rm/th
Date : 14 Oct 2009 16:54 OrigID : LC458240


Source : Sapa-AFP /clh/gj
Date : 14 Oct 2009 15:42 OrigID : LC456573