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Zimbabwe's Prosecutor General was on Tuesday charged with abuse of office and obstructing justice after he dropped a case against two men accused of plotting to bomb President Robert Mugabe's dairy farm, only for the two to turn state witness.

Johannes Tomana, an avowed supporter of Mugabe and his ruling ZANU-PF party, is unpopular with the opposition for his zealous prosecution of anti-Mugabe activists when he was Attorney General from 2008 to 2013.

Tomana, who was not asked to plead, faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted. He was freed on $1,000 (£694) bail and ordered to surrender his passport.

State prosecutor Timothy Makoni told a magistrates court that two army corporals, a retired soldier and a fourth man were arrested on Jan. 22 outside Mugabe's dairy farm north of the capital Harare and were found carrying ammonia and petrol bombs.

The men were initially charged with possession of weaponry for sabotage and with money laundering for terrorism purposes.

But Tomana freed two of them, who then turned state witnesses, in a decision the state said amounted to criminal abuse of office.

On Tuesday, new treason charges were levelled against the four. Makoni said the accused, who face the death penalty or life in prison, hatched a plan to set up a militia base to the west of Harare from where they planned to unseat Mugabe's government.

Lawyer Thabani Mpofu said the new constitution passed in 2013, which created the post of prosecutor general, gave Tomana power over whom to prosecute. He said the court had no authority to try Tomana.

Several political activists, including the main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, have in the past been tried for terrorism and treason but have been acquitted.