29 Murders (Extra-judicial killings or summary executions) Most reports about the period preceding the election period place the number of deaths at about forty people. However, there were also deaths reported about which little information is known; these deaths are still included as unnamed or unidentified people in the list that follows. Many of these deaths were carried out brutally, some as a result of torture performed on the victim, some as a result farm invasions, and others were summary executions. Some are the result of missing persons, most likely dead and buried or dumped in an undisclosed location. In all cases, no one has been brought to trial. Even in the high profile case of the murders of Tichaona Chiminya and Talent Mabika, the direct order of a High Court Judge to the Attorney General has not yielded a trial date or even an arrest. Tichaona Chiminya was a well-known and well-liked MDC leader. He had been chosen by Remius Makuwaza, the MDC candidate for Makoni West, to head Makuwaza’s campaign and to set up MDC structures in the constituency. Chiminya was so effective as a campaigner that MDC leadership in Harare asked him to campaign for the MDC in Buhera North as well. Throughout April, Chiminya and his other colleagues campaigned throughout Buhera North and Makoni West. Sanderson Makombe testified that he witnessed the 15 April 2000 attack and petrol bombing of MDC supporters Chiminya and Mabika. He alleges that Zanu (PF) supporters were responsible and said that CIO agent Joseph Mwale was present and participated. Despite numerous witnesses implicating Mwale in the murders he has not yet been detained. Makombe alleges that he was in the twin cab when a Zanu (PF) labeled vehicle stopped them and began to beat them while he and his colleagues were still in the car. He escaped out of the back of the vehicle while the others tried to hide in the front seat. He then heard Mabika screaming and also heard someone call for petrol bombs to be brought from the Zanu (PF) vehicle. Petrol was poured on Chiminya and Mabika and then poured under the hood of the vehicle. A bomb was thrown and the vehicle caught fire. Makombe fought back tears to continue. He alleged that he ran back to the vehicle to pull his two colleagues out. When he did, their skin was flaking off from their burns and their clothes were still alight. Chiminya was pronounced dead at the scene and Mabika died after being taken to the hospital. Makombe testified that ever since that incident he has had numerous sleepless nights and could not look at meat for some months. He stated that although he resumed campaigning soon after the incident, he was horribly troubled. Mwale and Zimunya were both subpoenaed by Justice James Devittie in the Buhera North case to testify about the incident in their own defence. There was other first-hand testimony related to two of the election period murders that were observed. The three witnesses describe what they saw: Mavis Tapera gave testimony in the Mberengwa West case regarding her husband’s death and her own torture in one of the more harrowing stories that has come to light in the election petitions thus far. She told the Court that Zanu (PF) supporters led by Wilson Kufa Chitoro, alias ‘Biggie’ Chitoro, abducted her husband, Fainos Zhou, on 4 July 2000. He was taken to Texas Ranch, which been repeatedly referred to by witnesses as a war veteran base and torture centre in the area. She received word that her husband had been released four days later and that he had been taken to MDC Candidate Mfandaidza Hove’s home. By the time she reached the home her husband had just died. She observed that he sustained serious injuries all over his body but was beaten severely on his buttocks. She told the court that it appeared as if he had been beaten with a hot iron bar. An affidavit submitted by Wilson Mushaya in the Mutoko South election petition states that his brother Mationa and his brother’s son, Onias, were brutally beaten to death on 16 May 2000 by war veterans. Mationa Mushaya’s wife, Anna, was beaten unconscious but survived. Wilson Mushaya was ill and was not able to appear in court to give evidence. However, he alleges that his brother, who was the MDC Ward Chairman in his home district, was attacked by at least eight AMANI Trust: Organised Violence and Torture in the June 2000 General Election in Zimbabwe