HARARE - A High Court judge has denied bail to five MDC members who are part of 31 activists accused of murdering a police officer.

They have been in remand prison for more than a year and were making a fresh bail application, which was turned down by Judge Chinembiri Bhunu.

The other activists are out on bail.

Prosecutors say the 31 stoned police inspector Petros Mutedza to death at a bar in Harare’s Glen View suburb in May 2011.

They deny the charges and say they were arrested simply because they belong to the MDC.

The trial resumes next Monday.

The MDC maintains that its five members should be released immediately as they are facing false murder charges.

The MDC’s position is that the trial and continued incarceration of the five and the rest of those accused is not prosecution but political persecution simply because they are fighters for real change and a better Zimbabwe. - Staff Writer