MUTARE , Zimbabwe ( CNN ) -- A Zimbabwean court ordered a senior opposition politician back to jail Wednesday to await his trial , set to begin next week . Roy Bennett talks to the press in March 2009 , a few moments after being released on bail . `` I commit the accused to prison , '' Magistrate Lucy Mungwari said as she announced the ruling in Roy Bennett 's case to a packed courtroom in Mutare , about 185 miles southeast of the capital , Harare . Bennett , a Movement for Democratic Change politician and an ardent critic of President Robert Mugabe 's policies , was arrested on February 13 -- just before he was to be sworn in as deputy agriculture minister in the new power-sharing government . He faces charges of possessing weapons for sabotage , banditry and terrorism . Initially he had been charged with treason . Immediately after the ruling , prison guards whisked away a visibly shocked Bennett , clad in khaki trousers , brown shoes and a checked shirt . `` We are really worried by this development , '' said Bennett 's lawyer , Trust Maanda . `` We are trying all possibilities to have him released . We will be at the high court this evening to seek his liberty . '' State prosecutor Chris Mutangadura said the development was a `` natural effect of the law . '' `` It is procedural , '' Mutangadura said . `` He had to be indicted to the high court , and that means he loses his liberty until the trial resumes . '' `` If there is any defect in the process , the accused should raise it with the high court , '' said the magistrate , Mungwari . A spokesman for Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said the premier has tried to meet with Mugabe since hearing that Bennett was sent back to jail . Tsvangirai has not been granted access by Mugabe 's employees , said spokesman James Maridadi . `` The prime minister has suspended the council of ministers ' meeting he chairs on Thursdays , '' Maridadi said . `` ... He is meeting his party leadership first thing on Thursday . '' The arrest of Bennett , a white coffee grower whose property was expropriated under the country 's controversial land reform laws , came as other ministers where being sworn into the coalition government formed by Mugabe and Tsvangirai . The action almost derailed the power-sharing deal , which had been brokered by the regional Southern African Development Community after a hotly disputed election won by Mugabe last year . Bennett spent about a month in jail before the country 's Supreme Court ordered him released on bail in March . Movement for Democratic Change spokesman Nelson Chamisa called Wednesday 's ruling `` a ridiculous and extraordinary development . '' He said it was a `` serious abuse of the law , which will affect the coalition government , '' and added , `` We are not going to sit and watch this abuse go on . ''
Bennett is a Movement for Democratic Change politician . He is arrested before he was to be sworn in as deputy agriculture minister . He faces charges of possessing weapons for sabotage , banditry and terrorism . - February 12 :