Harare  -Zimbabwe's High Court on Friday ordered the release on bail of deputy agriculture minister-designate Roy Bennett, whose reimprisonment this week led his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) to boycott the country's unity government.

Bennett, 52, is charged with possession of weapons with the intent to cause sabotage, terrorism and insurgency in 2006. He denies the charges.

His case had been due to start in a provincial magistrate's court in Mutare but prosecutors successfully applied this week for it to be moved to the High Court, a move that saw his bail automatically revoked after seven months.

The MDC accuses the Mugabe-loyal attorney-general's office of conspiring to keep Bennett, a former white farmer, out of office by keeping him behind bars on what it calls trumped-up charges.

MDC leader, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Friday cited the "persecution" of Bennett as a factor behind the party's decision to boycott cabinet meetings.

Bennett was arrested on the day in February that the unity government between the MDC and President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF was sworn in.(dpa)