12 Time for accountability and asked why they were not attending a ZANU-PF meeting. They were then forcibly marched from the hills to a rally at Nyava growth point. At the rally, “war veterans” ordered some ZANU-PF youths to take CM’s wife and daughter to the ZANU-PF camp and to beat his wife. They were kept at the camp from about 10am to 6pm, though the youths did not go ahead with the beating. Mother and daughter were later released and ordered to bring CM so that he could surrender his MDC t-shirts and membership card. For a while the family lived in hiding in the surrounding hills to evade capture. On 21 June, a gang of over 50 ZANU-PF youths surrounded CM’s home and summoned him to the camp. He refused to go with them. They then went away and returned accompanied by four “war veterans”. He was told to leave the MDC and defect to ZANU-PF in order to force a by-election. They also told him that ZANU-PF would give him security, while as an MDC member he risked being killed. The gang then left. CM told Amnesty International what happened next: “On 22 June, at about 10pm, my home was attacked by ZANU-PF supporters. I first heard dogs barking. I looked through the window and saw my home surrounded. They knocked on the door and ordered me to come out and accompany them to the camp but I refused. I saw them going to the chicken run and the goats’ pen and they found nothing. I recognized some of them… They said that it was the end of me. Then they started stoning the door and forced it to open but I did not come out. Then they started stoning the whole house and it started to collapse, while we were still in the house. I then decided to run, but only managed to run for about 50 metres and they caught me. They started beating me with metal bars breaking both my legs. They said they wanted to kill me to force a by-election. I then passed out.” While he was still unconscious, CM, his wife and daughter were taken to a ZANU-PF camp. CM could not hear what was going on, but his wife later told him that the “war veterans” phoned the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) to report that they had captured him. CIO officers came to the base and were briefed by the “war veterans”. The wife overheard their leader saying that CM should be put in a sack and thrown into Pote River. The CIO officers were reportedly angry that the “war veterans” had brought the wife and daughter who could be potential witnesses. After some disagreement, the CIO officers refused to take CM and his family in their truck, saying they did not want to have to kill three people. The CIO then left. At about 2am the “war veterans” ordered CM’s wife to take her husband home. The following day the family helped CM board a bus to Harare where he sought medical attention. Both his legs were fractured. CM is a peasant farmer. He will not be able to work his fields for months as a result of his injuries. At the time of the interview in August 2008 his family had still not returned home, fearing for their safety, while CM was still in hospital. CM’s case has not been investigated and no steps have been taken to bring any of the perpetrators to justice. Amnesty International AI Index: AFR 46/028/2008