Zimbabwe's opposition leader, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, has been formally charged with inciting violence by calling for President Robert Mugabe's expulsion from office, his lawyer said.
Mr Innocent Chagonda said Mr Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), was summoned to a magistrate's office late on Thursday and charged. He was released on bail of 10,000 Zimbabwe dollars.
"He will appear in court on April 30th unless we reach an agreement on another suitable date," Mr Chagonda said.
Mr Tsvangirai is the third MDC leader to be charged with incitement linked to the party's political campaign against Mr Mugabe, who is seeking re-election next year.
The former labour leader was detained for questioning in October after he had warned in a speech that Mr Mugabe would be forced out if he did not quit.
Mr Tsvangirai's deputy, Mr Gibson Sibanda, and the National Youth chairman, Mr Nelson Chamisa, were charged two weeks ago with inciting MDC supporters to hit back at ruling party militants who had been on a violent campaign against the opposition before the elections of last June.
The MDC delivered the first real challenge to Mr Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF in June, winning nearly half the 120 elected seats in parliament.
Mr Mugabe (76) has escalated his crackdown on political opponents since the election, forbidding the courts to review contested election results and curbing the press.
He also issued a proclamation blocking the prosecution of ZANU-PF supporters involved in anti-opposition violence in which 31 people were killed, thousands hurt and hundreds of white-owned farms occupied.
Mr Mugabe had tried to prevent the MDC's poll challenges by using special powers in the electoral law to decree that courts could not invalidate poll results.
However, the Zimbabwe Supreme Court threw out that decree after the MDC challenged its validity.
Several other MDC officials and politicians, including Mr Sibanda, have been questioned in police investigations of similar charges in recent weeks.
Mr Sibanda was questioned by police last week, but no charges were filed.
South Africa said yesterday it would continue its "good-neighbour" approach to Zimbabwe, despite the Harare government's attacks on the judiciary, the press and the political opposition.
The South African Foreign Minister, Mr Nkosazana Dla mini-Zuma, staunchly defending Pretoria's quiet diplomatic approach toward its troubled neighbour, rejected widespread calls from business leaders and opposition politicians for a tougher stand, and said: "We are not going to go to war with Zimbabwe."