VOA标准英语2009年-Zimbabwe Court Puts Senior MDC Official Ba

By Peta Thornycroft
14 October 2009

 
Roy Bennett (Mar 2009 file)
A Zimbabwean court on Wednesday detained Roy Bennett a senior Movement for Democratic Change official and said it had indicted¹ him to stand trial on terrorism charges. Roy Bennett returned from exile to Zimbabwe to take part in the unity² government in February.

Roy Bennett is treasurer³ of the MDC and had been nominated to be Zimbabwe's deputy agriculture minister.

When he returned to Zimbabwe he was arrested and officials said he would be charged with various offenses⁴, including terrorism.

He spent a month in detention⁵ while lawyers battled through the courts to secure his release on bail⁶. His trial was due to start in the lower court on Tuesday in the eastern city of Mutare.

Defense⁷ lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa said seven months after he was arrested, she had been given no specific charges, nor any outline of the case.

She also said a previous court order ruled that Bennett could be tried in the lower court in Mutare. She described the courts disregard of this ruling, and his indictment⁸ to the High Court and his detention Wednesday as a "gross abuse of court processes."

State prosecutor⁹ Chris Mutangadura, said in court, that Bennett had been indicted and the "natural consequence is he will be in custody¹⁰ until he makes a bail application in the High Court."

After Bennett had been taken out of the court to the Mutare Remand Prison senior MDC leader, Gordon Moyo, a senior minister in Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's office, who attended court in Mutare Wednesday, said he was "devastated¹¹" by the court ruling.

Securing bail in cases involving terrorism charges is extremely difficult, a Harare legal academic said Wednesday.

Roy Bennett, a founding member of the MDC, spent nine months in a rural prison four years ago after pushing one of President Robert Mugabe's officials in parliament during a debate about land reform.

Mr. Mugabe has said in several interviews recently that Bennett would not be sworn in as deputy agriculture minister until he had been cleared by the courts.

1 indicted   

控告，起诉( indict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The senator was indicted for murder. 那位参议员被控犯谋杀罪。
• He was indicted by a grand jury on two counts of murder. 他被大陪审团以两项谋杀罪名起诉。

2 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

3 treasurer   

n.司库，财务主管

参考例句：

• Mr. Smith was succeeded by Mrs.Jones as treasurer.琼斯夫人继史密斯先生任会计。
• The treasurer was arrested for trying to manipulate the company's financial records.财务主管由于试图窜改公司财政帐目而被拘留。

4 offenses   

n.进攻( offense的名词复数 )；（球队的）前锋；进攻方法；攻势

参考例句：

• It's wrong of you to take the child to task for such trifling offenses. 因这类小毛病责备那孩子是你的不对。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Thus, Congress cannot remove an executive official except for impeachable offenses. 因此，除非有可弹劾的行为，否则国会不能罢免行政官员。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法

5 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

6 bail   

v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人

参考例句：

• One of the prisoner's friends offered to bail him out.犯人的一个朋友答应保释他出来。
• She has been granted conditional bail.她被准予有条件保释。

7 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

8 indictment   

n.起诉；诉状

参考例句：

• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。
• They issued an indictment against them.他们起诉了他们。

9 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。

10 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

11 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。