HARARE, Zimbabwe, June 9 (UPI) -- Zimbabwe's opposition leader was charged with treason a second time Monday in the middle of his trial on the first charge.
Morgan Tsvangirai was arrested Friday, after a week of mass protests. The leader of the Movement for Democratic Change spent the weekend in jail, the BBC reported.
The new charges relate to five days of protests against President Robert Mugabe's government.
The opposition's secretary-general, Welshman Ncube, was also arrested Monday and the party has threatened to renew the protests unless its leader is released.
But Mugabe, 79, said he will not be intimidated.
"I am getting younger and I still can punch," Mugabe said.
Zimbabwe suffers from shortages of medicine, food, and fuel. Output fell by a third in the past four years and annual inflation is 279 percent.
The country is under sanctions from the European Union, the United States and the United Kingdom over alleged vote-rigging in last year's elections.
