Updated

A Zimbabwe court has ordered a breakaway Anglican bishop to return church property he seized after his excommunication in 2007.

Supreme Court Judge Yunus Omerjee ruled Monday that Bishop Nolbert Kunonga has no right to the church property as he left the mainstream Anglican Church.

Zimbabwe's Anglican Church has been divided since Kunonga, a loyalist to President Robert Mugabe, was excommunicated in 2007 by the worldwide head of the church for inciting violence in sermons supporting Mugabe's ZANU-PF party. Kunonga broke away from the Anglican Church and formed an independent Harare diocese. Kunonga held the Anglican Cathedral in Harare and several other churches, with the help of police.

The schism has left mainstream Anglicans without places of worship and many were subjected to intimidation and violence.