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Mr. Tsvangirai, his driver and bodyguard were thrown in, and the frenzy of beatings were
taken to a higher level. The victim was beaten on the buttocks and when he turned over
he was hit on the legs. The blows to the left leg fractured his knee cap. One of the female
assaulting team jumped on his tummy claiming it was “fat from Tony Blair’s money”. When
these assaulters got tired, they stopped and once again they were told to lie down with
faces downwards. They were then ordered to get into the truck and once more, lie face
downwards. The injured were not given any treatment.
Torture: Assault and Detention [11 March 2007]
The victim claims that on 11/03/07 he had accompanied Mr. Tsvangirai to Machipisa Police
Station as his body guard, to see other officials of the party who had been arrested. When
they arrived and parked their car almost two hundred officers were gathered outside the
police station. They walked into the police station and a woman officer told them to go to
the fenced court yard where they found their officials being battered all over with gum
poles, batons and metal bars. When the police saw Mr. Tsvangirai the whole police camp
jeered telling him to call Bush and Blair to help him. Next it was flying kicks all over Mr.
Tsvangirai. The victim saw three Policemen beating Mr. Tsvangirai with large sticks and
metal objects on the head and he passed out three times. They came to victim and asked
him why he was a bodyguard to Bush and Blair’s’ puppet. He was beaten all over the body
especially on the head and was left when he passed out. When he came to, he was
assaulted again, until he vomited blood. They were then thrown in a big lorry, packed like
fire wood, lying on their stomachs and taken to Harare Central Police Station where again
they were ordered to lie prone on the tarmac facing on the ground. They were held in
police cells.
Many more cases could be given to illustrate the point that torture and ill-treatment were
meted out to those accused of “public violence”, but this is unnecessary. As was seen above,
the trend seen so commonly in the past was repeated on 11th March and subsequently
continued as this case below illustrates, and this case also illustrates the frequent use of
proxy forces by the law enforcement agencies.
Torture: Assault and Detention [25 March 2007]
The victim reported that after the Zimbabwe/ Morocco Soccer match he was in a party of
15 who were distributing NCA fliers, they were caught by 5 men in plain clothes who
accused them of petrol bombing police stations. They were taken to the base (known as
ZANU PF base in Mbare called Chipangano base) They were beaten up by 8 men until they
started bleeding from the mouth and nose. They were then told to go wash their clothes
to erase evidence of victimization. They put on their wet clothes and where taken to
Rufaro Stadium, where they were beaten up again. They were being pinched and pain
inflicted on their private parts. The client and his group started crying out and screaming
until riot police came to their rescue. They were then handcuffed and taken to Mbare
Police Station. Before the riot police came they had been searched and their money was
taken, the victim had $110,000 stolen. They were then held at Mbare Police Station, the
following morning 5 police officers came and beat them with fists and kicked and punched
them. (The perpetrators told the client that they were ZANU PF militia).
The ZRP response to dissent to government policy, as revealed in its own report, is of
concern, but is entirely in keeping with other reports in this regard. It is significant that over
the ten-year period since 1998, the Forum and its members have frequently documented and
publicised the involvement of the ZRP in the perpetration of gross human rights violations.
The Forum has issued numerous reports on torture and other gross human rights violations,
and members of the ZRP have featured prominently as perpetrators in all these reports. Two
reports have been issued specifically on the ZRP, and in both of these reports the Forum
Select target paragraph3
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