Zimbabwe: Roy Bennett bailed then sent back to jail

Mr Bennett, who was due to become the deputy agriculture minister in
Zimbabwe’s power-sharing government before his arrest, faces terrorism,
banditry and weapons charges that his party dismisses as trumped up.

In the bail hearing at a court in the capital Harare, 170 miles west of
Mutare when Mr Bennett is being held, the judge granted him bail but
ordered that he should spend another week in prison pending an appeal
by state prosecutors.

The plight of Mr Bennett is being seized on by critics of the
power-sharing arrangement between the MDC and President Robert Mugabe
as evidence of the bad faith of the Zanu-PF party.

The judge at Harare’s High Court, Tedius Karwe, said that the interests
of justice would be served by releasing Mr Bennett, who has been held
for more than a week. But he gave the prosecution seven days to appeal
against his ruling, and sent the politician back to Mutare jail in the
meantime.

It is a judgment that reflects the tortuous challenges the MDC faces in
reforming Zimbabwe. Mr Karwe criticised the MDC leader and prime
minister Morgan Tsvangirai for backing the bail application and
promising Mr Bennett would not leave the country.

The move was "unprecedented", he said. "We don’t want politicians to
interfere with the work of the judiciary. I hope that they will take
heed of that, because we don’t want a clash of the executive and the
judiciary."

In reality Zimbabwe used to have an independent judiciary, but in recent years it largely became a tool of Mr Mugabe’s regime.

With several other MDC and human rights activists still detained, the
issue is beginning to threaten the future of the new government, with
the former opposition’s patience starting to wear thin.

Before the hearing the MDC said that the proceedings "are in essence the inclusive government in the dock".

Afterwards it issued another statement declaring: "This is provocation
of the highest order. It is time the inclusive government salvage
itself. The inclusive government is failing Roy Bennett, Jestina Mukoko
and all other political hostages, and in essence, is committing gross
violations of people’s human rights."

Daily Telegraph