• • • • • bizarrely, they were arrested on charges of violence. They were later released and the police took no further action. Abigail Chiroto and her four year old son were abducted from their home on June 16, 2008, by suspected CIO officials. The kidnappers abandoned the little boy at a nearby police station and his mother’s body was later found on a farm in Borrowdale. A police report was filed but the police took no action. Tonderai Ndira was abducted and killed by alleged ZANU-PF supporters in May 2008. His wife filed a police report but no action was taken by the police. Beta Chokururama, Godfrey Kauzani and Cain Nyevhe were abducted and killed on May 7, 2008, by suspected ZANU-PF supporters. Their relatives filed police complaints in the days after they were killed. No action was taken by the police. Peter K. was killed on June 28, 2008, by suspected ZANU-PF supporters and officials. A police report was filed and witnesses provided the police with the names of the alleged perpetrators. Police promised to return for further interviews but never came back. No action has been taken since. Tariro M., his wife and another elderly couple were abducted and beaten to death by suspected ZANU-PF supporters, youth militia and soldiers on June 25, 2008. Police took a statement from Tariro M’s wife, in which she named some of the perpetrators before she died. A police report was filed and the police took a further statement from her sons in July 2008, but no further action was taken. The failure of police to act has left many communities, in provinces around the country, vulnerable to further violence. Many victims and their family members believe that they remain at risk because of the failure of the police to prosecute perpetrators, some of whom still live in the areas in which they committed the crimes.38 The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, which has filed hundreds of civil law suits across the country on behalf of victims of the 2008 election-related violence, informed Human Rights Watch that the majority of perpetrators named in its lawsuits continue to live in the same communities in which they had perpetrated the violence. Said a representative of the Forum: “Perpetrators in most of the cases we are working on, were named by their victims, and in most cases were people the victims knew who lived in the same community.”39 The Forum has documented cases where alleged perpetrators threatened their victims with further violence after court 38 Human Rights Watch interview with Rashid Mahiya, Director, Heal Zimbabwe Trust and Cleto Manjova, Senior Progammes Officer, Heal Zimbabwe Trust, Harare, September 9, 2010. Human Rights Watch telephone interview with representative of Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, Harare, October 29, 2010. 39 Human Rights Watch telephone interview with representative of Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, Harare, October 29, 2010. 27 Human Rights Watch | March 2011