18 % of those named in connection with violence 53.3 60.0 44.4 4.4 2.2 This is unsurprising and, as the Forum pointed out in a recent report on violations by law enforcement agencies, the probabilities of being tortured or abused by the ZRP increased with detention and where senior officers were present.41 This trend is maintained in the cases reported after 11th March. As can be seen from the case histories below, the abuse and torture was severe. Some of the cases have already been widely reported in the public domain, but where they have not, no personal details are provided in order to protect the victims. It is evident that gross human rights violations were being perpetrated by the ZRP well in advance of the events of 11 th March, as the case below illustrates, and also as is amply demonstrated in the Monthly Political Violence Reports of the Forum for both February and March 2007.42 Torture: Assault and Detention [28 February 2007] The victim claims that on the morning of 28/02/07 at around 0845hrs he was at Mwamuka Petrol Service Station when he noticed the presence of police officers who approached and ordered him to stay seated where he was. Suspecting trouble, he considered fleeing but stopped when police brandished a pistol. He was then handcuffed and beaten using clenched fists. He and some colleagues in his company were taken to a police station where they were locked in the PISI [a police intelligence unit] room and ordered to remove their shoes. They were asked what their aim was. When they told the police they were going into town to the NCA offices they were accused of wanting to go into town to destroy cars and loot. An officer came in and he asked his colleagues if they had tortured the victim and friends so as to get information. They were then beaten under the feet using a baton and another officer stamped on their toes. They were then ordered to pay a fine of $2500 for an unspecified charge. It was now around 1500hrs. After paying the fine at the charge office they were taken back to the offices and interrogated again. The victim was told by the police to go and look for and bring to them another person who had run away. The victim’s address was taken down and he was then released around 1700hrs. The denials by the ZRP and state officials of any ill-treatment of the MDC and other civil society organisation members are contradicted by the numerous confirmatory statements of people that were abused over this period. As the following examples of transcripts of accounts by victims demonstrate, there were multiple abuses  all witnessed, and subsequently confirmed on medical examination. Torture: Assault and Detention [11 March 2007] The victim claims that on the 11/03/07, police arrested him when he was in his car. He was then loaded in a pickup truck and taken to Machipisa Police Station. He was then with Mr. Tendai Biti, the Secretary General of the MDC. They were followed soon after by Nelson Chamisa and his driver. Thereafter came Dr Madhuku, Mrs. S Holland and Ms Grace Kwinjeh. They were then a group of about 28 within the compound of Machipisa Police station. At about 12 noon, an angry order was given to handover all their cell phones and to lie down facing down and pretend to go to sleep. An orgy of indiscriminate beatings then started. A few people were singled out for special beatings. At this point the President 41 See Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (2006), “Who Guards the Guards? Violations by Law Enforcement Agencies in Zimbabwe , 2000-2006”. 42 See Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (2007), Monthly Political Violence Report for February 2007 and Monthly Political Violence Report for March, 2007