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Zimbabwe Says Opposition Official in Transit Before Hearing

Zimbabwe Opposition Official Unaccounted for, Lawyers Say

(Bloomberg) -- A senior official of Zimbabwe’s main opposition party is being transferred to a court in the southeast of the country, where he will be charged for alleged comments about overthrowing the government, the country’s information ministry said.

Job Sikhala, the deputy secretary-general of the Movement for Democratic Change, “is being transported by police to Bikita where the alleged crime was committed,” according to a statement on the ministry’s Twitter account. Reports that Sikhala was missing “are inaccurate.”

A spokesman for Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights earlier said the organization, which is representing Sikhala, didn’t know where he was, and that they were being subjected to a “hide-and-seek game” by police.

Sikhala was charged with treason Monday for allegedly saying the party wouldn’t allow President Emmerson Mnangagwa to complete his term of office.

--With assistance from Brian Latham.

To contact the reporter on this story: Desmond Kumbuka in Harare at dkumbuka@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Hilton Shone at hshone@bloomberg.net, Helen Nyambura

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