A Harare magistrate on Wednesday formally charged seven activists of the Movement for Democratic Change with terrorism, banditry and insurgency in connection with police station bombings late last year, and the activists entered an innocent plea to the charges.

Among them was Gandhi Mudzingwa, a former advisor to MDC founder Morgan Tsvangirai, and Chris Dhlamini, Tsvangirai’s head of security.

Doctors who testified in court Wednesday said the prisoners had been tortured and needed urgent medical treatment. Defense lawyers named the persons who allegedly abducted the activists starting in late October and held them until recently when police, who had denied knowledge of their whereabouts, suddenly produced and jailed them.

Correspondent Thomas Chiripasi told Jonga Kandemiiri that the defense team filed motions challenging the continued detention of activists and naming their alleged abductors.

More reports from VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe...