Zimbabwe prosecutors apply for High Court "upgrade" of Bennett case

Oct 13, 2009, 16:06 GMT

Harare - State prosecutors in Zimbabwe on Tuesday applied for the case of senior Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) politician Roy Bennett to be moved from a provincial court to the High Court - a move that, if successful, would land Bennett back in custody.

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 to overthrow President Robert Mugabe. The charges were later downgraded to possession of weapons with the intention to commit sabotage, banditry and insurgency. Bennett denies the charges.

His trial had been due to start on Tuesday in a magistrate's court in the eastern city of Mutare, but the attorney general's office instead applied for the case to be moved to the High Court in Harare.

'We are simply following what the law says. It allows us to take all serious cases to the High Court,' counsel for the state Chris Mutangadura told reporters in Mutare.

Bennett's lawyer Trust Maanda accused the state of a ploy to get Bennett back behind bars pending his trial. If the Mutare court rules that the case should move to the High Court, Bennett's bail would automatically be revoked.

'It is clear that the state has no case and just wants to put Bennett in custody,' Maanda said.

Bennett's arrest on what the MDC calls trumped-up charges and Mugabe's refusal, since his release on bail in March, to swear him in as deputy minister have added to tensions in the coalition government formed by Mugabe's Zanu-PF and the MDC.

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.

A ruling in the state's application is expected Wednesday.