Charges against Tsvangirai’s pilot changed
Charges of fraud against Morgan Tsvangirai’s Johannesburg pilot arrested in Zimbabwe were withdrawn on Thursday, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said.
Roy Bennett, treasurer-general of Zimbabwean opposition party, said the charges were withdrawn after the state failed to bring the case in court within 48 hours, as stipulated by Zimbabwean law.
"Instead he had been charged under the Immigration Act, under which he can be detained for 14 days without appearing in court," he said.
He said lawyers filed an urgent court application requesting that the pilot be released on the basis that his detention was illegal, but he was not sure when the application would be heard in court.
The MDC had hired the pilot to fly its president Tsvangirai to election rallies.
Bennett said that according to the lawyers representing him, Brent Smyth was arrested on Tuesday because, as a foreigner, he should have paid his hotel bill in foreign exchange.
Instead, it had been paid by the MDC member who had made the booking on his behalf in Zimbabwean dollars.
Bennett said he understood that the MDC member who made the booking was being sought by police to be charged for violating exchange control regulations.