A 33-year-old woman, an MDC supporter, told Human Rights Watch about how a group of “war veterans” beat her with logs and sticks on that day. She sustained serious injuries to her buttocks: The chief called out the name of me and my husband and we were made to stand to one side with other people called from the list. We were told that we had been called because we were from the MDC. We were taken aside and beaten with sticks in front of everyone. They made us lie down and tied our hands with handcuffs and beat us with thick sticks. They were counting as they beat us and taking turns. I was beaten 115 times on each buttock. They were many of them. I knew some of them.78 Creation of ‘No-Go’ Areas in Mashonaland East, Mashonaland West and Mashonaland Central ZANU-PF supporters and “war veterans” have created “no-go areas” across broad swathes of the countryside in the provinces of Mashonaland East, Mashonaland West and Mashonaland Central to prevent victims from leaving the provinces, and to prevent foreign journalists and local human rights organizations from reporting on the violence. They have placed barricades across roads leading to villages hit by the violence making the areas inaccessible. Thousands of people are unable to flee the violence and have been left without food, water or shelter. In a deliberate attempt to punish those it suspected of having voted for the MDC, ZANU-PF supporters and their allies have blocked and threatened victims of violence in need of medical treatment. For example, in mid-April, a man from Mudzi, in Mashonaland East told Human Rights Watch that he received severe wounds to his buttocks after being beaten with logs by people he believes were ZANU-PF supporters. His attackers told him that if he went to the hospital for treatment, they would come back and kill him. By the time he 78 Human Rights Watch interview, Harare, May 7, 2008. 39 Human Rights Watch 2008