Harare - The Zimbabwe independence war veterans' leader, Chenjerai Hunzvi, was given a suspended jail sentence and fined yesterday for defying a court order to end forcible takeovers of white-owned farms.
The relatively lenient sentence appeared to ease fears that continuing political violence in Zimbabwe would be exacerbated if Hunzvi had been jailed.
Twenty-three people have been killed in three months of violence that threatens parliamentary elections set for June 24th-25th, which pit President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANUPF against a revitalised opposition headed by trade unionist Mr Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).