Human Rights Forum Report: Who was responsible? Conclusions This report is not a pleasant read. However, it scarcely does justice to the real horror experienced by all the victims mentioned. No words can easily describe the experience of being tortured, and these victims will carry their horrifying memories to their graves. They can be treated, but never cured; they will learn to cope if they are helped, but will never be the same. These horrifying stories are only a very small number of the cases received, as will be seen from the following appendix. Furthermore, these reported cases are only a fraction of the total cases of political violence that occurred during the election period. As we noted above, virtually all the perpetrators have been pardoned by the Clemency Order, and even those who were not covered have generally evaded prosecution. The evidence clearly supports the view that there was a systematic campaign of organised violence and torture perpetrated against all opposition political parties and their supporters. The physical acts of violence conform to the definition of torture contained in the UN Convention Against Torture. However, what must be appreciated is the extent to which psychological torture and mass psychological torture was used. It is all too easy to focus upon the unspeakable physical torture that was inflicted on people, and therefore too easy to reach the conclusion that violence was minimal considering the relatively small number of deaths. What has not been well understood is that this campaign of terror was highly sophisticated and extremely effective. Few Zimbabweans will forget the nation-wide cloud of fear that gripped the country during the run-up to the general election. As will be seen from this small number of cases, the number of alleged perpetrators was very large but it has been easy to identify most of them. The allegations of State-sponsored torture would have been very easy to test through subsequent prosecutions. The Government therefore needed to declare an amnesty for all perpetrators in order to avoid confirmation of the allegations of State complicity. The only recourse left to the victims is to seek compensation for injury through civil action - a process which is expensive and lengthy. Some very courageous people have elected to testify in the High Court in the election petitions, where most have opened themselves to the risk of further torture. Indeed, it has generally been the case that these witnesses have suffered further torture, and been forced into hiding. It is unacceptable that the Government, tasked with upholding the Constitution, allows this criminal state of affairs to persist. The highly immoral Clemency Order has thus allowed the Government to continue to maintain some form of credibility with the international community. Behind this façade and the continual assertions that the Government respects the rule of law is the reality of a Government that has allowed a massive and systematic campaign of terror to sweep the country, and to wholly subvert the rule of law through impunity. Justice requires that full investigation of all these allegations take place, perpetrators are brought to book, and those responsible face the full weight of the law. Zimbabwe needs to draw a line in the sand, and to face the future knowing that this will never happen again. 32