Zimbabwe’s Supreme Court ordered the release on Wednesday of a top member of Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change, dismissing an appeal from prosecutors to deny him bail.
“The Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal by the state against the High Court decision to grant him bail,” said Beatrice Mtetwa, a lawyer for Roy Bennett, who was arrested on terror charges last month.
BAIL
Mtetwa said however that the court had tightened bail conditions for Bennett, Tsvangirai’s pick for deputy agriculture minister, whose arrest has cast a pall over the new government of national unity.
“He now should pay US$5,000 instead of US$2,000 granted by the High Court. He has to report three times weekly to the police instead of twice,” Mtetwa said.
Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku also ordered Bennett to surrender his passport and the title deeds for his home, she said.
RELEASE
Bennett was expected to be released later on Wednesday, she said. However, another lawyer for Bennett said that the release would not take place until yesterday.
“The release is now tomorrow [yesterday],” Maanda said by telephone from Mutare, where the MDC official is being held.
“The court which was supposed to issue the warrant of liberation had closed by the time the Supreme Court made its ruling,” Maanda said.
TERROR
Bennett, a white former farmer, has been in custody since Feb. 13 when he was arrested on terror charges as Zimbabwe’s new unity government was being sworn in.
The treasurer of Tsvangirai’s party, Bennett is accused of possessing arms for the purposes of banditry, terrorism and sabotage.
A High Court granted him bail of US$2,000 two weeks ago, but he has remained in custody as prosecutors mounted a series of appeals.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sent Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) greetings with what appeared to be restrained rhetoric that comes as Pyongyang moves closer to Russia and depends less on its long-time Asian ally. Kim wished “the Chinese people greater success in building a modern socialist country,” in a reply message to Xi for his congratulations on North Korea’s birthday, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported yesterday. The 190-word dispatch had little of the florid language that had been a staple of their correspondence, which has declined significantly this year, an analysis by Seoul-based specialist service NK Pro showed. It said
On an island of windswept tundra in the Bering Sea, hundreds of miles from mainland Alaska, a resident sitting outside their home saw — well, did they see it? They were pretty sure they saw it — a rat. The purported sighting would not have gotten attention in many places around the world, but it caused a stir on Saint Paul Island, which is part of the Pribilof Islands, a birding haven sometimes called the “Galapagos of the north” for its diversity of life. That is because rats that stow away on vessels can quickly populate and overrun remote islands, devastating bird
‘CLOSER TO THE END’: The Ukrainian leader said in an interview that only from a ‘strong position’ can Ukraine push Russian President Vladimir Putin ‘to stop the war’ Decisive actions by the US now could hasten the end of the Russian war against Ukraine next year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday after telling ABC News that his nation was “closer to the end of the war.” “Now, at the end of the year, we have a real opportunity to strengthen cooperation between Ukraine and the United States,” Zelenskiy said in a post on Telegram after meeting with a bipartisan delegation from the US Congress. “Decisive action now could hasten the just end of Russian aggression against Ukraine next year,” he wrote. Zelenskiy is in the US for the UN
A 64-year-old US woman took her own life inside a controversial suicide capsule at a Swiss woodland retreat, with Swiss police on Tuesday saying several people had been arrested. The space-age looking Sarco capsule, which fills with nitrogen and causes death by hypoxia, was used on Monday outside a village near the German border. The portable human-sized pod, self-operated by a button inside, has raised a host of legal and ethical questions in Switzerland. Active euthanasia is banned in the country, but assisted dying has been legal for decades. On the same day it was used, Swiss Department of Home