Judge tosses plea from Zimbabwe opposition

HARARE, Zimbabwe (CNN) -- Zimbabwe's main opposition party was demanding Tuesday to know why its secretary-general has not been formally charged six days after he was arrested.

A Zimbabwean judge ruled the detention of Tendai Biti was legal, dismissing a petition from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change which called the detention unlawful.

Biti was supposed to be formally charged in magistrate's court on Monday, but the hearing was delayed for a day due to "a lot of paperwork," a Zimbabwe police official said.

Tuesday's hearing also failed to happen. Biti's lawyer, Lewis Uriri said he was waiting for the attorney general's office to fulfill its obligation to bring him to court on Wednesday.

Police have said Biti will be charged with treason, which could carry the death penalty, and disseminating malicious falsehoods. The charges relate to a document published by the MDC before the March 29 presidential election, according to Zimbabwe national police.

"The judge has dismissed our application," said Uriri outside the Harare court.

Uriri said the document on which police are apparently pinning their case "was not authored by Tendai Biti. ... These are just trumped-up charges."

He said Biti remains held at Matapi police station, "which the Supreme Court ruled ... is not fit for human habitation." The station is in Mbare, the oldest suburb of the capital city of Harare.

In a statement issued Tuesday, the MDC accused Zimbabwe's police of not having enough evidence to charge Biti.

"The police made a lot of noise about their threats to arrest Mr. Biti, which in a normal society would have presupposed they had basis for doing so," the statement said. "Six days later they still have not charged him, which vindicates our position that the charges are ludicrous, frivolous and vexatious, only intended to frustrate our campaign."

Biti is the secretary-general of the MDC, whose leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, is trying to unseat Zimbabwe's longtime ruler, President Robert Mugabe. A runoff election is scheduled for June 27.

Speaking at a campaign rally Monday, Mugabe threatened to arrest more MDC officials, blaming the party for pre-election violence. Watch Mugabe say he'll fight to keep is party in power »

In its statement, the MDC said Zimbabwe's inability to formally charge Biti "indicate[s] that the Mugabe regime has lost recollection of how a civilized, law-governed society interacts with its citizens.

"They are behaving like thugs, gangsters and warlords, without any attempt to be rational and civil," the statement said.

Biti was arrested on Thursday as he arrived in the Zimbabwean capital on a flight from South Africa. His lawyers were initially not told where Biti was being held after he was arrested. A warrant had been issued for his arrest on June 6, while he was abroad.

Police on Monday searched Biti's home for more than three hours, according to an MDC statement that called it "harassment."

"Clearly the police are on fishing expedition," the statement said.

Biti made an initial court appearance Saturday after his attorneys filed several court orders demanding it. Wearing leg irons, Biti appeared "dejected and dull," according to a reporter in the courtroom.

Mugabe supporters have been accused of conducting kidnappings, beatings and murders in an effort to influence the June 27 runoff election between Mugabe and Tsvangirai. Zimbabwean authorities have also banned all aid organizations from distributing aid to needy citizens, claiming that aid workers were trying to influence people to vote against Mugabe. Learn more about Zimbabwe »

Tsvangirai has been detained several times in the weeks leading up to the runoff election -- most recently on Saturday with 11 other MDC officials and supporters.

MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said he and other opposition members refused to stop campaigning despite Mugabe's threat to arrest more opposition officials.

"We do not want to betray the people of Zimbabwe by going into hiding," he said.

All About Zimbabwe • Robert Mugabe • Morgan Tsvangirai