AN MP from the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has had his 10-month jail sentence quashed by the High Court on appeal.

Mathias Mlambo [Chipinge East] was suspended from Parliament in July 2009 following his conviction for attempting to defeat the course of justice.

The charges arose after the MP, who was attending the funeral of an MDC activist in the Grassplain area of Chipinge, allegedly blocked police officers from arresting a suspect wanted on an undisclosed charge among the mourners.

“The High Court ruled that Hon. Mlambo had not committed any crime and was acquitted,” the MDC said in a statement on Thursday.

The MP, who was out on bail awaiting a decision on his appeal, will now have his Parliamentary rights restored.

Over a dozen MDC MPs have been arrested since the March 2008 elections on what the party calls “trumped up charges” by President Robert Mugabe’s loyalists in the police and court service.