A Zimbabwe court on Wednesday ordered ministerial nominee Roy Bennett, a close aide to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, back to jail until his trial begins next week.

Magistrate Lucy Mungwari announced the trial would start on October 19 in the High Court of Mutare and said: "The accused person shall be committed to prison" until it began.

Bennett was Tsvangirai's pick as deputy agriculture minister but was arrested only an hour before President Robert Mugabe swore in the country's unity government on February 13.

He was released on bail a month later.

The charges against him stemmed from an alleged plot to assassinate Mugabe in 2006.

He is accused of possessing arms for the purposes of banditry, terrorism and inciting acts of insurgency.