3. Offences This part deals with the offences committed by the above-mentioned perpetrators. These included arson, assault, assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm (assault GBH), murder, rape, destruction of property, theft, unlawful arrest, unlawful detention, forced displacement and torture. Although torture is not a specific crime in Zimbabwean domestic law, it is important to place it as a separate analytic field because, from examination of the offences for which suit was being made, it was evident that there were cases of torture as defined by the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Forms of Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment. What was deemed torture in this report was ascertained from the nature of the assault: assault GBH, for example, frequently conformed to the UN Convention’s definition – being whipped with sjamboks, electrocution, falanga, submersion, and excessive beatings using electrical cords, iron bars, wooden planks and any other weapons. It is difficult to differentiate between assault GBH and torture where there is no definition of torture, but, where soldiers and police are using their batons, rifle butts and booted feet with excessive force to beat up people in order to extract information or as punishment for participating in politics, this would clearly conform to the definition of torture in the Convention. 3.1 Torture The association between torture and detention has been noted, but not all torture took place in detention, and hence torture is examined separately. Torture was alleged in 72 cases noted in the case files, but, on closer inspection, it is evident that 191 of the whole sample could be classified as torture according to the definition provided in the UN Convention Against Torture. Here the UN definition used to examine the facts of each case is briefly described as follows: • the intentional infliction of severe pain and suffering, whether physical or mental; • the purpose of inflicting the pain or suffering must be— • to obtain from the victim or another person information or a confession; • to punish the victim for an act that the victim or another person has committed or is suspected of having committed; • to intimidate or coerce the victim or another person; or • for any reason based upon discrimination of any kind; • the pain or suffering must be inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. As can be seen from Table 16, there were few differences over the reporting period in the frequency of torture, except in 2003, when cases from Buhera were the most frequent. However, it should be noted that violations not involving torture were also much higher in 2003 than in the other years. Table 16 Frequency of alleged torture 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 No torture (n = 100) 18.2% 2.0% 2.0% 10.1% 19.2%* 28.3% 13.1% 5.1% 2.0% Torture (n = 191) 12.1% 1.6% 4.2% 7.9% 8.9% 49.5%* 13.2% 2.6% 0.5% *χ2: 2002 (6.18; P = 0.025); 2003 (12.13; P = 0.005) 15