Zimbabwean judge is 'on the run'

Zimbabwean judge Benjamin Paradza, due to be sentenced on Friday by the High Court for corruption, has gone missing.

After he failed to turn up in court, an arrest warrant was ordered to be faxed to all border posts.

He had been found guilty of trying to intervene in the case of a business partner who was charged with murder.

Mr Paradza, who faces three years in prison or a fine, said he was being targeted for delivering judgements that were not in favour of the government.

He was the first judge in independent Zimbabwe to be convicted of corruption.

Bail forfeit

Journalist Brian Hungwe in Harare says friends and relatives had gathered at the High Court in the capital on Friday morning where Mr Paradza was due to be sentenced.

His name was called out three times, but he failed to come forward.

Sentencing judge Simpson Mutambaningwe then issued a warrant of arrest for Mr Paradza to be faxed to all border posts and said his bail should be forfeited to the state.

On Tuesday, Mr Paradza was found guilty of asking fellow judges to release his partner's confiscated passport.

He was cleared of charges of attempting to obstruct the course of justice.

The passport was being held by the court as part of Russel Wayne Labuschagne's bail conditions in a murder case in which he was accused of killing a fisherman at his property

Mr Labuschagne was later convicted of murder and sentenced to an effective 15 years in prison.