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Cops 'faked' case against MP
26/07/2007 16:14 - (SA)
Harare - Zimbabwean police concocted accusations of terrorism against an opposition MP and 12 followers based on testimony from non-existent witnesses at a fictional South African farm, a judge said.
Prosecutors failed to produce the witnesses when ordered to do so and were unable to pinpoint the farm on a map, Justice Lawrence Kamocha said at a hearing into a successful bail application by the lawmaker Paul Madzore.
"As far back as May 10 2007 the police promised to bring critical evidence but with the passage of time it turned out that they had obtained nothing from South Africa incriminating the applicants," he said in his judgment on Tuesday, a copy of which has been obtained by AFP.
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) lawmaker and 12 other supporters were rounded up in raids in March when the police claimed to have foiled a planned petrol bombing campaign against government and private properties.
The group had been kept in custody without charge since then but Kamocha said the police had created two fictional witnesses in a bid to link the opposition activists to an alleged terrorism training camp in South Africa.
"When the state was ordered by the court to produce these individuals to show that they that they existed it failed to do so," he said.
Farm 'non-existent'
Kamocha said the police had alleged the applicants had undergone training at a farm in South Africa, but "when challenged to show on the map where Lala Bundu farm was they failed to do so. It turned out to be non-existent".
Kamocha granted Madzore and his co-accused bail on condition they continue to reside at their given addresses and report to police three times a week.
The group was 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.
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