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MDC nominee 'on treason charge' MDC nominee 'on treason charge'
(20 minutes later)
Police in Zimbabwe have charged a senior member of the MDC party with treason, the party has said. Police in Zimbabwe have charged a senior member of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC party with treason, the party says.
Roy Bennett, nominee for deputy minister of agriculture, was charged just hours after the swearing-in of Zimbabwe's new power-sharing cabinet. Roy Bennett, nominee for deputy minister of agriculture, was charged just hours after the new power-sharing cabinet was sworn in, the MDC says.
The MDC statement described the charges against him as "scandalous" and "politically motivated". The party's statement described the charges against him as "scandalous" and "politically motivated".
Earlier, police reportedly fired shots in to the air to disperse people from the police station holding Mr Bennett. Earlier, the ceremony was marred by a row over the allocation of ministers.
The former MP was arrested at an airport north-west of the capital, Harare, shortly before the swearing-in ceremony. Under a power-sharing deal agreed after months of negotiation, President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF is to have 15 posts and the two factions of the MDC 16 posts in the government.
The ceremony was then delayed by a dispute over several extra Zanu-PF ministers of state who turned up to be sworn in by President Robert Mugabe. But seven extra Zanu-PF members turned up at State House in the capital, Harare, to be sworn into office. The issue was only resolved after intense closed-door negotiations.
The issue was only resolved after intense closed-door negotiations. Correspondents described the day as an extremely bumpy start to Zimbabwe's power-sharing experiment.
Shots fired
The MDC denounced the accusations against Mr Bennett.
"These charges are scandalous, vexatious and without basis in law, but are simply politically motivated, simply intended to justify the continued incarceration of Roy Bennett," the party said.
The former MP, seized near a Harare airport earlier in the day, has long been a controversial figure.
A white farmer who lost his property under Mr Mugabe's land reform programme, he was in prison from October 2004 to June 2005.
The sentence was imposed by other MPs after he pushed a minister during an argument in parliament over land reform.
He has only recently returned to Zimbabwe after more than two years in South Africa, where he fled after police sought his arrest in connection with an alleged plot to kill Mr Mugabe.
Mr Bennett was taken to a police station in the eastern city of Mutare, where police later reportedly fired shots into the air to disperse MDC supporters.
The MDC called for his immediate release.