Zimbabwe courts

A prominent religious leader has challenged the use of victim-friendly court facilities in his rape trial, while courts across the region issue restraining orders and anti-corruption agencies escalate enforcement operations.

Zimbabwe's courts have handed down sentences ranging from 15 years for child sexual assault to 12 months for livestock theft, while a Nigerian fraudster operating from Mexico received prison time for defrauding the US government of $1.3 million.

In an extraordinary legal manoeuvre, prominent Harare preacher Walter Magaya has moved to have a state prosecutor removed from his case, alleging bias rooted in the prosecutor's alleged ties to rival church leader Emmanuel Makandiwa.