Eleven Zimbabwean opposition supporters who had been detained for two months for an alleged ”terrorism” plot have been released after a court ordered the charges to be dropped, a party spokesperson said on Friday.
The 11, which included seven party workers for the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), had been rounded up in raids in March when the police claimed to have thwarted plans for a campaign of petrol-bombing.
Twenty others, however, who were arrested at the same time remain in custody, including MDC lawmaker Paul Madzore.
”The ones freed were charged in connection with the petrol-bombings and the court found nothing linking them to the petrol-bombings, and those who remain in detention were charged with undergoing military training in South Africa,” party spokesperson Nelson Chamisa said.
”All these charges are frivolous and a desperate attempt to implicate the MDC. What is disturbing is that innocent people have been made to serve a prison term by being detained all this time on false charges.”
Madzore and the 30 others were arrested days after security forces beat up MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and scores of his supporters during a rally against the regime of veteran President Robert Mugabe. — AFP
