Mugabe's Police to Hold Opposition Pol for 2nd Day

Prosecutors fail to show up to present charges against ministerial nominee
By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 16, 2009 3:51 PM CST
Mugabe's Police to Hold Opposition Pol for 2nd Day
Opposition party supporters hold a poster calling for the release of Roy Bennet, outside Mutare Magistrates courts, where Roy Bennet, treasurer of the main opposition party and ministerial nominee was meant to appear in court Monday, Feb. 16, 2009.   (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

In another blow to Zimbabwe's fledgling unity government, police moved to hold a prominent opposition politician in jail for second day, the BBC reports. Roy Bennett will most likely spend the night in jail after prosecutors failed to come to court today to present insurgency and terrorism charges against the nominee for deputy agriculture minister. Bennett is one of 30 members of Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change who have been detained in recent months.

A white farmer whose land was nationalized by Mugabe’s government, Bennett spent 8 months in jail in 2004 for pushing a minister in parliament. He recently returned to Zimbabwe, having fled to South Africa after he was accused of being involved in an alleged plot to kill Mugabe. The MDC’s finance minister said the party had not decided how to respond to Bennett’s detention.
(More Zimbabwe stories.)

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