Interestingly, while the Minister of Home Affairs is named as defendant in nearly as many cases not involving torture as those involving torture, the army, through the Ministry of Defence, was significantly more likely to be named as defendant in a case of torture as opposed to other forms of human rights violation (Table 17). Table 17 Defendants cited in alleged torture No torture 62.3% 60.6% 28.3% Ministry of Home Affairs Commissioner of Police Ministry of Defence Torture 73.2% 71.6% 47.4%* *χ2: Defence (9.95; P = 0.005) The involvement of the army in torture is obviously reflected in the allegations as perpetrators (see Table 18), but it was also the case that the uniformed branch of the ZRP and the CID were significantly associated with torture, as was seen above in the section of detention. It is noteworthy, too, that the Riot Squad of the ZRP was also named in a high percentage of torture cases. Table 18 Alleged perpetrators of torture No torture 30.3% 1.0% 1.0% 24.2% 6.1% 28.3% 0 5.1% ZRP (Uniformed branch) ZRP (CID) ZRP (PISI) ZRP (Riot Squad) ZRP (Support Unit) Zimbabwe National Army CIO ZANU(PF) Torture 42.1%* 13.7%* 0.5% 15.8% 6.3% 44.7%* 0.5% 1.1% *χ2: ZRP Uniformed Branch (3.94; P = 0.05); ZRP CID (12.4; P = 0.005); Army (7.53; P = 0.01) Unsurprisingly, the cases of torture were also significantly more likely to involve serious assaults, which is obviously what torture is, and also unlawful detention (Table 19). Additionally, persons reporting torture were more likely to have experienced falanga.26 As examination of the cases files indicated, people in custody are likely to be beaten irrespective of their alleged crime; the police routinely mistreat prisoners, and it has now become a norm rather than an exception. There were 25 cases of people arrested for alleged theft, and all were assaulted while in police custody, with 17 of these involved falanga.27 This is a clear indication that the police have adopted torture as a means of eliciting confessions from alleged offenders on a widespread basis. 26 χ2: Falanga (22.19; P = 0.005). Falanga is incontrovertibly torture in that this type of beating cannot take place accidentally or as a simple assault; the victim must be restrained in order for the focused beatings on the soles of the feet to take place. 27 16