Zim parly upholds jail sentence
28/10/2004 21:02  - (SA)  

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Zimbabwe Special Report  Latest Zimbabwe Stories

Harare - The Zimbabwean parliament on Thursday voted to uphold a prison sentence on leading opposition lawmaker Roy Bennett for shoving Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa to the ground during a heated debate in May.

Fifty-three members voted for a jail term while 42 voted against. The other members of the 150-seat house were not present during the vote, according to a reporter.

Bennett was arrested at Harare airport while preparing to leave for South Africa on Thursday morning, a day after a special parliamentary committee recommended a year's jail term for him.

He was later brought to parliament from a Harare police station and made a 35-minute speech in which he made an apology.

"I'm extremely sorry for the disturbances that I caused to this house. I apologise to you Mr Speaker, I apologise to Honourable Chinamasa," Bennett said.

In May Bennett, a commercial farmer and a member of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party, lost his temper and pushed Chinamasa to the floor after the minister said his ancestors were "thieves".

"I have nothing against this government," Bennett, who claims he was subjected to extreme provocation, told parliament earlier on Thursday.

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