REDRESS/AMANI circumstances.78 Depending on the nature of the offence, a first offender convicted of assault will usually receive a fine and/or a suspended prison sentence, while assault with intent to commit grievous bodily harm will often lead to imprisonment. Attempted murder invariably results in imprisonment. Disciplinary proceedings against the police are governed by the Police Act [Chapter 11:10] which sets out the mechanisms for inquiries into breaches of the Act and Police Regulations. 79 Alleged crimes committed against civilians are also subject to the normal judicial process. III.2 . The Criminal Procedural Law A. Immunities Immunities, indemnities, amnesties, clemencies and pardons lie at the heart of Zimbabwe’s failure to deal with gross human rights abuses committed by public officials, and have done so for decades.80 During the pre-Independence period the key piece of legislation used by the white minority regime to countenance torture was the Indemnity and Compensation Act 45 of 1975, which was retroactive to 1 December 1972. It gave a blank cheque to human rights violators in the army, the police, the CIO and indeed to all and every person connected “ with the suppression 81 82 of terrorism.” Given that “ terrorism” was very widely defined, and in the absence of any constitutional protection in the form of a justiciable bill of rights, nobody responsible for torture could be prosecuted.83 After Independence, four periods can be analysed as follows: (i) 1 9 8 0 -1 9 8 2 The terms of the Lancaster House settlement put to rest any possibility that the end of the illegal UDI regime and the attainment of independence under majority rule 78 Section 16 of the Sexual Offences Act [Chapter 9:21]. 79 It is an offence under the Police Act [Chapter 11:10] to use “unnecessary violence towards, or neglecting or in any way ill-treating any person in custody or other person with whom he may be brought into contact in the execution of his duties” : Schedule of Offences No. 21. 80 These terms are sometimes used interchangeably although not always correctly, but the factual position is beyond dispute: for years very many perpetrators of crimes relating to torture (in fact the vast majority of them) have either never been prosecuted at all or have escaped punishment altogether after having being sentenced, hence the often used description of Zimbabwe being a country with “ a culture of impunity.” 81 Section 4(1) of the Act provided that: “ No civil or criminal proceedings shall be instituted or continued in any court of law against (a) the President or any Minister or Deputy Minister in respect of any act, matter or thing whatsoever advised, commanded, ordered, directed, or done or omitted to be done by him or by a person referred to in paragraph (b) in good faith for the purposes of or in connection with the suppression of terrorism; (b) any person who, at the relevant time, was (i) a member of the Security Forces or employed in any capacity or appointed to any person by the State, whether for remuneration or otherwise; or (ii) acting under or by the direction or with the approval of the President, any Minister or Deputy Minister or any person referred to in subparagraph (i); in respect of any act, matter or thing whatsoever advised, commanded, ordered, directed or done or omitted to be done by him in good faith for the purposes of or in connection with the suppression of terrorism.” Prior to this Act, and despite the plethora of other statutes which had long been used to curtail basic human rights, members of the security forces had sometimes been successfully sued for human rights abuses. 82 See Sections 51 and 52 of the Law and Order (Maintenance) Act [Chapter 11: 07] . 83 As can be seen from footnote 81 above, section (4)(1) of the Indemnity and Compensation Act 45 of 1975 also indemnified perpetrators from civil proceedings. In the result the security forces and other state agencies could and did kill, torture and maim at will: having been indemnified in advance, knowing they were immune from criminal and civil proceedings, they acted with impunity and took advantage of their legal inviolability, committing heinous crimes without being legally accountable. 15