4.6.3 Domestic Criminal Prosecutions These are prosecutions that are conducted domestically within the country where the human rights violations were committed. A number of international human rights and humanitarian law treaties explicitly require States parties to ensure punishment of specific offences either by instituting criminal proceedings against suspected perpetrators in their own courts or by sending the suspects to another appropriate jurisdiction for prosecution. (NTJWG: 2015). The investigation and prosecution of major human rights abuses is a necessary component of States‟ obligations to guarantee and protect fundamental rights. This goes a long way in combating impunity and strengthening the rule of law. Domestic prosecutions involve efforts by the State to bring to justice those suspected of involvement in widespread human rights violations carried out in the context of armed conflict, civil unrest, or state sponsored politically-motivated violence. From the ITJDBP it can be seen most African countries made use of domestic criminal prosecutions during their pre and post-transition periods for crimes ranging from extrajudicial killings, rape, kidnappings torture, among other human rights crimes. Kenya, for example, had the highest number of domestic trials (79) in its pre- transitional justice period, but only 14 during the post transition period. Ethiopia, on the other had the highest number of trials (30) in its post-transition period and only 13 during the pre- transition. However, some of the prosecutions had nothing to do with transitional justice; for example, the trial of 27 security force members in Benin, 1994, for plotting to overthrow President Soglo in May 1992; the trial of 15 people for planning to overthrow the government of Ghana in 1986; the trial of more than 1000 Kenyan Air Force officers for attempting to overthrow the government of Kenya in 1982; the trial of five officers of former dictator Moussa Traore in 1993 for attempting to overthrown the Mali democratic regime in 1991; and other cases of authoritarian regimes prosecuting members of the military for an uprising/coup. Moreover, very few criminal prosecutions were against civilian members, demonstrating that prosecutions were either merely a response to public pressure on a particularly egregious act that gained more widespread attention within the population, or an act of an authoritarian regime is policing itself internally (Reiter& Fishman 2016) In spite of the important role of domestic criminal prosecutions in transitional justice, Zimbabwe just like any other country emerging from a violent conflict lacks the political will to investigate and prosecute human rights crimes. This is partly due to the fact that the judiciary is compromised, and also that most of the perpetrators of human rights violations are still in positions of authority. 4.6.4 Civil trials A civil trial is a lawsuit made by a plaintiff for enforcement of civil remedies in the form of compensation or damages. In civil trials, individuals can claim damages either from the State or individuals. Although globally many countries avail civil redress for human rights abuses, these have not been widely used in most African countries that underwent periods of gross human rights violations, both before and after transition periods as shown in the Transitional Data Base Project (also Sections 4.1 to 4.4 above). This could be due to the fact that the process of civil litigation is cumbersome and protracted, especially when the lawsuit is against the State. 28