claimant was a member of the Movement for Democratic Change. The court found that after the police had arrested him, supposedly on suspicion that he was involved in the burning of a house belonging to a member of the ruling party, he was made to walk to a police station. During that journey he was made to lie on the ground and he was beaten with batons on the buttocks and groin. On arrival at the police station, he was taken to the charge office where he was beaten for about ten minutes. He was then taken to a tent at the back of the police station. There three members of the Support Unit ordered him to lie face downwards on the ground. The officers pinned him down and he was beaten with batons and what he thought was a whip for about twenty minutes. He lost consciousness as a result of the beating. He was ordered to go back to the charge office but he was unable to walk. He was taken to the cells and held for two days without being given food. He had to rely on his wife to bring him food. When he was taken to court the presiding magistrate was informed about the assault and despite the fact that there were still visible signs of the beating, the magistrate did not order a medical examination. The nephew of the claimant was also assaulted by the police. During the assault in the charge office the officer in charge was encouraging the police officers by saying “beat the pythons” – a term used to refer to MDC supporters. In the case S v Sonny Nicholas Masera and Five Others40, the confessions of a number of members of the opposition MDC admitting to murder were rejected on the basis that the police had falsified evidence and the accused persons had been tortured. Other civil suits against the police In addition to these cases, there have been a large number of civil suits mounted against the ZRP and the Ministry of Home Affairs, mainly by the Human Rights Forum and its members. The outcomes of these cases were recently summarised in a report from the Forum, 41 but these are briefly described below since they add considerable weight to both the cases described above and the statistical findings which follow. Of the 291 cases that were brought before the courts, in 114 the plaintiffs complained of assaults and torture by the police at police stations. The cases involved were both political and non40 41 HH 50-2004 See Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, An Analysis of the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum Legal Cases, 1998–2006. (Harare, June 2006). Who guards the guards? Violations by the Zimbabwe Republic Police, 2000 to 2006