Zimbabwean police charged two more senior opposition figures with treason today over an alleged plot to assassinate President Robert Mugabe in the countdown to next month's election.
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Secretary-General Mr Welshman Ncube and MDC member of parliament Mr Renson Gasela were charged a day after police filed treason charges against party leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai.
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"They have been charged with treason. We are still investigating and will proceed by way of summons as soon as the investigations are over," police spokesman Mr Wayne Bvudzijena confirmed this evening.
The two men were accused of conspiring with Mr Tsvangirai to oust 78-year-old Mr Mugabe, who has not yet commented on the charges or accusations that his ruling ZANU-PF is persecuting the MDC leadership ahead of the March 9-10th presidential poll.
Like Mr Tsvangirai, Mr Ncube and Mr Gasela denied any guilt and were released on bail after they were charged.
Mr Tsvangirai, who presents the stiffest challenge to Mr Mugabe's 22-year rule, says he believes the government will not try to stop him from contesting the election.
What happens if he wins and judicial authorities immediately decide to prosecute the president-elect for treason is one of many unanswered questions.
"We believe that these are charges that have been concocted against our leadership to divert attention from the real issues in Zimbabwe," MDC spokesman Mr Learnmore Jongwe said.
"The MDC hopes to turn public anger over a crumbling economy, now in its fourth year of recession, and severe food shortages into victory at the polls."
"Solutions to these problems will not come through arresting our leaders on trumped-up charges," Mr Jongwe said.
Mr Mugabe was preparing to take his re-election fight to urban areas today amid growing foreign condemnation of his government's pressure tactics against the opposition.
The United States and Britain accused Mr Mugabe, in power since Zimbabwe's independence from Britain in 1980, of trying to fix the election.
The United States and the European Union have already clamped sanctions on Mr Mugabe his inner circle. The EU says Mr Mugabe had made it impossible for European election observers to do their jobs.
Australia said it could impose sanctions on Zimbabwe if Mr Tsvangirai was not allowed to take part in the poll. New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Mr Phil Goff also had harsh words for the Zimbabwean leadership after Mr Tsvangirai was charged.
"One would have to make the assumption that that was a jacked-up charge by the Mugabe government," he told Radio New Zealand.