(20 Jun 2008) SHOTLIST
1. Exterior of Harare court
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Lewis Uriri, Biti's lawyer
"He knows that he's not committed an offence, he knows that this whole thing is political, he knows that there is light at the end of the tunnel and he knows that it is only a matter of time."
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Lewis Uriri, Biti's lawyer
"The magistrate simply considered that having gone through the documents that were before him, there would be a reasonable suspicion that the applicant for refusal of freedom that Tendai Biti had yet committed an offence."
++JUMP CUT++
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Lewis Uriri, Biti's lawyer
(Question: What are you going to do next?)
"The next stage is to secure the accused's release on bail and we are presently working on his bail papers. We expect to have filed them the latest this afternoon."
5. Mid of lawyers using their mobile phones outside court house
STORYLINE:
A Zimbabwe magistrate rejected a bid by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) to have its Secretary General, Tendai Biti, released on Friday, ruling that there were grounds to believe he had committed an offence.
Magistrate Mishrod Guvamombe ordered that Biti continue to be held in custody until the next hearing on July 7, while police continued their investigation.
The order meant that Zimbabwe's No. 2 opposition leader was almost certain to miss the June 27 presidential run-off election.
Biti was formally charged on Thursday with treason, which can carry the death penalty, publishing false statements, insulting the president and another charge related to interfering with the military.
The charge of making false statements was based on Biti's announcement, before official results were released, that opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai had won the first round of presidential voting on March 29.
Under the law, only electoral officials can release results, but the government delayed announcing the results for more than five weeks.
The MDC said the treason charge against Biti was part of a government plot to undermine it before the election, a claim reiterated by Biti's lawyers outside the Harare court.
"He knows that he's not committed an offence, he knows that this whole thing is political, he knows that there is light at the end of the tunnel and he knows that it is only a matter of time," said Lewis Uriri, Biti's lawyer.
Uriri said he hoped to file a bail application for Biti's release later on Friday.
Tsvangirai claims he won the first round vote outright.
Official results indicated he came in first in a field of four, but failed to win the 50 percent plus one vote necessary to avoid a second round run off against President Robert Mugabe.
Mugabe, Zimbabwe's head of government since 1980, was lauded early in his rule for campaigning for racial reconciliation. But in recent years, he has been accused of ruining the economy and holding onto power through fraud and intimidation.
Zimbabwe's economic slide has been blamed on the collapse of the key agriculture sector after often-violent seizures of farmland from whites.
Independent human rights activists have accused Mugabe of deploying police, soldiers and party militants in attacks on the opposition meant to ensure he defeats Tsvangirai in the run-off.
The opposition says more than 60 of its activists alone have been killed, and the international community has become so concerned at the violence that some leaders have suggested the runoff be cancelled.
Those sanctions first were imposed in 2002 to protest human rights violations under Mugabe's rule.
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