Posted on 06/21/2003 1:36:35 AM PDT by Clive
A High Court judge ordered the release yesterday of Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of Zimbabwe?s opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), on Z$110 million (£77,000) bail and sureties while he awaits trial on a second charge of high treason.
Mr Tsvangirai was cheered and greeted by dozens of his supporters as he left prison for his home in a Harare suburb.
MDC officials had difficulty getting Z$10 million in cash, as demanded by the judge, Susan Mavangira, because of an acute shortage of banknotes. The Reserve Bank has run out of imported paper and ink to print notes, while inflation soars above 269 per cent.
Court officials were stunned when Mr Tsvangirai?s lawyers brought the money in Z$50 bills - the only denomination banks could supply - in three huge cardboard boxes. It took more than an hour to count.
Mr Tsvangirai, 51, was ordered to produce a Z$100 million surety in the form of title deeds to property, and banned from making any statement "calling for the violent or unlawful removal of the President and the Government".
His trial on a previous treason charge continues.
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