6 All victims, including the witnesses, were followed up after the trial, and, where necessary, arrangements made for witnesses to be accommodated in “safe houses” if further victimization occurred after the trials. There was concern that the witnesses could be subject to retaliation or further intimidation. There was early evidence that several had been assaulted subsequent to testifying, and there was credible evidence that a gang of “government supporters” was hunting down the witnesses through their various constituencies. Of course, this then makes the situation considerably different to the South African Truth Commission or the Balkans War Tribunal where the victim-witnesses were no longer under obvious threat. Human Rights violations and psychological health Additionally, the AMANI Trust was interested to see whether the process of testifying would have any effects upon the victims’ psychological health. As indicated above, there is a large literature demonstrating the effects of human rights violations, and especially torture, upon the mental health of victims8. There is additionally a substantial Zimbabwean literature dealing with the effects of torture9. In previous work with the survivors of torture, the AMANI Trust has been very interested in the long-term effects of torture. As indicated above, one of the major effects upon torture survivors is persistent psychological disorder. The AMANI Trust, in a number of studies, found this was the case with Zimbabwean survivors. In a large epidemiological investigation of the survivors from the Liberation War of the 1970s, it was found that nearly 1 in 10 adults over the age of 30, attending primary care facilities, was a survivor of torture 10. A clinical investigation of war veterans found that 73% of the sample was suffering from clinically significant psychological disorder 11. These were very high rates and in chronic populations: that is, populations in which the original trauma was at least two decades previously, and in which the disorder had been present for a similar period. 8 See BAKER,R. Psychosocial consequences for tortured refugees seeking asylum and refugee status in Europe, in M.BASOGLU(ED), Torture and Its Consequences: Current Treatment Approaches, CAMBRIDGE: CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS, 1993; BASOGLU,M. Torture and Its Consequences: Current Treatment Approaches, CAMBRIDGE: CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS, 1993; RAMSAY,R., GORST-UNSWORTH,C.,& TURNER,S. Psychiatric Morbidity in Survivors of Organized State Violence including Torture: A Retrospective Series, BRIT.J.PSYCHIAT., 1993, 162, 55-59. 9 See REELER,A.P., MBAPE,P., MATSHONA,J., MHETURA,J., & HLATYWAYO,E. (2001), The prevalence and nature of disorders due to torture in Mashonaland Central Province, Zimbabwe, TORTURE, 11, 4-9; REELER, A.P., & MHETURA, J. (2000), The psychosocial effects of organised violence and torture: A pilot study comparing survivors and their neighbours in Zimbabwe, JOURNAL OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA, 15, 137-169; REELER, A.P., & MUPINDA, M (1996), An investigation into the Sequelae of Torture and Organised Violence in Zimbabwean War Veterans, LEGAL FORUM, 8, 12-27. 10 See REELER,A.P., MBAPE,P., MATSHONA,J., MHETURA,J., & HLATYWAYO,E. (2001), The prevalence and nature of disorders due to torture in Mashonaland Central Province, Zimbabwe, TORTURE, 11, 4-9. 11 See REELER, A.P., & MUPINDA, M (1996), An investigation into the Sequelae of Torture and Organised Violence in Zimbabwean War Veterans, LEGAL FORUM, 8, 12-27. Heroism in the Dock: Does testifying help victims of organised violence and torture? A pilot study from Zimbabwe.