The month of April saw no relent in police brutality against MDC supporters and any dissent whatsoever to the ZANU PF government. From the narratives in this report, it would seem that there is a concerted effort by Zimbabwe’s security forces especially the ZRP and CIO to weed out MDC supporters through the guise of wanting to investigate and arrest those people who perpetrated bombing acts on police stations across the country since the beginning of the year.

Of the politically motivated violence that occurred countrywide in April, statistical figures in this report show that there were 2 cases of abductions, 78 of assaults, 148 violations on freedoms of expression, association and movement, and 27 cases of torture. In the majority of the torture cases, members of the ZRP or the CIO or both working in cahoots were involved. The trend that has emerged from this April report is that most of the victims are either MDC members who were being accused of petrol bombing police stations, or having gone to South Africa to receive military training. In other cases, the police have gone to suspects’ houses and failed to find them and then attacked whoever would have been present. In most instances, as the report will show it will be women and young children who are then subjected to intimidation, harassment and heavy assaults by the perpetrators be it ZANU PF supporters, police officers or members of the CIO.

The Human Rights Forum deplores such investigative tactics, as they do not conform to the professionalism that is expected of law enforcement officers internationally. There are several important sets of standards which proscribe torture and relate to the conduct of law enforcement officials which have been adopted through the United Nations, including a Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officers^¹ and the Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons Under any Form of Detention or Imprisonment. The Human Rights Forum also notes that torture is proscribed under international law even under whatever circumstance^².

The Human Rights Forum will again reiterate that those police officers that continue to torture citizens will one day be brought to justice. The absolute ban on torture includes situations where a superior officer or public authority orders it. The same police officers should be warned that such orders are illegal under international law and cannot be relied on as defence.

The graph should be read along with the table depicting the monthly totals of violations for April 2007 on page 13.

Sources: The information contained in this report is derived from statements made to the Public Interest Unit of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum, statements taken by a network of human rights activists and newspaper reports,

Notes to the tables:

All cases of torture fall under the definition of torture according to the general definition given in the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Forms of Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment.

Those individuals referred to in point # 4 include the ZRP, ZNA, ZPS and the ZNLWVA (as a reserve force of the ZNA) and by any other grouping when directly sanctioned by the state.

Arrest by the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) with no reasonable suspicion that an offence has been committed. Detention thereafter for a period exceeding 48 hours without access to redress through the courts or subsequent release without charge.

A kidnapping by a member(s) of an organised group that is not the ZRP, political party, ZNLWVA, ZNA, MDC, Zanu PF etc

Kidnapped persons whose whereabouts remained unknown at the time of reporting. Their whereabouts have still to be ascertained through follow up reports or further investigation.

These are incidents in which property rights have been violated. This includes arson, property damage and destruction and theft.

Note: The identities of victims whose names have not been published in the press and are not public officials are protected. This is done in order to protect the victim from further violence, intimidation and possible recriminatory attacks.

The purpose of this report is to record the nature of the politically motivated violence and intimidation that continues to prevail in the country. The Monthly Political Violence Reports are primarily based on victims’ accounts, accompanied by medical evidence where possible, obtained from member organisations of the Human Rights Forum and other partner organisations. Use is also made of press reports. Furthermore, in this edition we include reports on police violence in non – political matters. This serves to demonstrate the way in which violent actions of the state and state agents exceed their legitimate limits and powers; and which indicates an increasing and more widespread politicisation of violence. The Report cannot be considered as the exhaustive record of all incidents of politically motivated violence in Zimbabwe in the period under review. Nevertheless, every incident reported to the Human Rights Forum directly or through its members is meticulously documented and included in the reports. Care is also taken to record the incidents in the language in which they were reported to the Forum.

The situation prevailing in the country is such that it has not been possible to verify all of these accounts. The Human Rights Forum has done what it can to verify the reports, and is satisfied that the vast majority of them are substantially true. It is also not possible to rule out whether a victim’s account is exaggerated or contains inaccuracies.

∑. 82 WOZA members were arrested for protesting against incessant power cuts by the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority in Bulawayo’s High Density suburbs. The women carried out their protests at various ZESA offices in the city. The arrested WOZA activists spent the night in police custody and were released on the following day. One of the arrested activists reportedly sustained severe injuries after the police assaulted her while in custody.

The victim was reportedly picked up at night by two police details at his home in Norton. The police allegedly questioned him on the whereabouts of an MDC member who the victim expressed ignorance about. The police the reportedly took him in their police truck first to Budiriro and then to Glen View 1 Police Station. At the police station the victim was allegedly assaulted with fists and baton sticks under his feet. The victim was reportedly kept in custody for two weeks at Glen View police station before being released.

∑.Philip Katsande, the provincial executive member of the Morgan Tsvangirai led MDC faction, was reportedly shot once in the chest by police officers around 01:00 hours as he tried to hide from them in the ceiling of his home. The police officers reportedly smashed windows and doors as they sought to gain access into the victim’s house.

Two male victims who were having drinks at Simba Night Club were reportedly approached by two plain - clothes police officers that then asked the two to accompany them to Chitungwiza Town Centre police station. At the police station the two were accused of barricading roads and were kept in custody. On the following morning, 4 anti - riot police officers tortured the two victims using baton sticks. On 3 April, the victims were transferred to Makoni police station. The police then transferred the victims to the CID Law and Order Section at Harare Central Police Station whereat they were kept until 16 May.

On the day in question, it is alleged that the victim, an MDC member heard people knocking and shouting loudly at his house asking him to come out. Before the victim could answer the, assailants allegedly broke down the door. The victim was reportedly dragged to the assailants’ car (light green Nissan Skyline) and forced inside. The assailants who were visibly drunk and holding bottles of beer claimed to be plain - clothes police officers. The victim tried to run away from the purported police officers but one of them fired three warning shots. The victim identified one of the assailants as a war veteran who is also a member of the St Mary’s Neighbourhood Watch Committee based at St Mary’s Police Station.

On the same day, a couple that are members of the MDC and WOZA were assaulted by armed men who claimed to be police officers on the day in question. It is alleged that the men broke down the couple’s door and dragged the husband out where they assaulted him. The assailants then forced the victim into their car but he refused and ran away. The assailants then returned to the house where they kicked and slapped the wife who had been left behind. The same assailants returned to the victims’ house on 14 April and further assaulted the woman after she failed to tell them the whereabouts of her husband. Moreover, the assailants slapped the couple’s three-year-old daughter before they left. The child suffered a laceration on her lip.

The victim was reportedly attacked with sticks and an iron bar on the forehead after he failed to produce a ZANU PF membership card. The victim reportedly lost consciousness and only regained it at the Chitungwiza Hospital.

It is reported that on the day in question, members of the ZRP were looking for an MDC member at his house. However, the person they were looking for hid in the house and the police could not find him. The police then reportedly went on a rampage assaulting everyone in the house for failing to disclose the person’s whereabouts. The MDC youth chairman for Seke Constituency who lives with the person the police were looking for was then taken to Harare Central Police Station `s Law and Order Section where he was beaten with a plank on the back and buttocks. He was released after 12 hours of detention.

An MDC member was reportedly walking to work around 05:45 hours when police officers ordered him to stop. The police then ordered him into their truck where he found 4 other men who had been arrested. The police told the victim that he had been arrested for a spate of bombings that had occurred in the country since the beginning of the year. The 5 men were reportedly taken to Dzivaresekwa Police Station and detained. The victims were reportedly assaulted with empty drink bottles, baton sticks, iron bars and fan belts by the police officers. Around 09:30 hours the victims were reportedly transferred to Harare Central Police Station Law and Order Section and subjected to assaults on their way there. They were further assaulted all over their bodies when they got to Harare Central Police Station. The victims were also allegedly ordered to leapfrog around the office of one of the police officers. One of the victims was reportedly ordered to lift his legs and beaten on his genital area. The police are alleged to have threatened to kill one of the victims

The victim claims that his home was raided by about 11-armed men. The men reportedly told the victim that they were looking for his brother, an MDC member. When the victim gave an answer in the negative the armed men allegedly dragged the victim to their car where they heavily assaulted him. The assailants also asked the victim about the addresses of some MDC member who reside in the same neighbourhood. The armed men then drove around Dzivaresekwa with the victim looking for MDC members. They managed to find one male MDC member who they assaulted on their way to White Cliff Farm. At the farm, the two victims were heavily assaulted with baton sticks, kicked with booted feet, and fists. After the assaults the victims were then taken to Kuwadzana Police Station where they were accused of petrol - bombing police stations and harbouring his brother who was wanted by the police. The victims identified one of the assailants as Magaya, a police officer. The victims were transferred to Harare Central Police Station Law and Order Section where they were again beaten with baton sticks and booted feet. One of the victims had his head banged against the wall by one of the police officers. The victims were kept in custody for two days before being released.

It is alleged that on the day in question, around 02:00 hours two plain-clothes police officers arrested the victim and took her to Machipisa Police Station. The police reportedly questioned the victim about a bombing incident in Harare’s Glen Norah high-density suburb and a WOZA demonstration that happened in Kuwadzana. The victim reportedly expressed ignorance of the two incidents and the police detained her overnight outside the police cells without blankets.

Six members of the MDC were reportedly assaulted by police officers when they tried to hold a meeting at one of the victims’ houses in Glen View. The police assaulted them with baton sticks and rifle butts.

It is alleged that CID officers went to the victim’s house looking for her son who is an MDC member. The woman refused to tell the CID officers about her son’s whereabouts and they started assaulting her. One of the officers kicked her with booted feet in the ribs. The CID officers also rummaged through the victim’s house and found MDC information material, which they confiscated. The officers reportedly questioned the victim about the bombings in Marimba and Mufakose.

The victims were reportedly approached by six-armed plain - clothes police officers. The two victims were taken to Harare Central Police Station where they were accused of petrol - bombing police stations across the country. The victims were reportedly moved from Darwendale police camp to Inkomo Barracks where they were continuously assaulted. At Darwendale the victims were blindfolded and assaulted under the feet and lower back with unidentified objects. One of the victims was taken to Darwendale Dam where he was forced to walk at gunpoint into the dam. When then water got to his waist they took him to Inkomo Barracks and then to Harare Central Police Station.

On the same day in question the victim, an MDC member, was arrested by two armed plain - clothes police officers around 09:00 hours. The police officers allegedly wanted him to give them more information on the bombing of police stations around the country, and where MDC members had reportedly received training to carry out such activities in South Africa. The police allegedly kept pushing the victim to give them information on the whereabouts of the MDC youth chairman. Around 19:00 hours the victim was taken to the Police General Headquarters where he was tortured under the feet, back, buttocks and sides using baton sticks by the police. During the time he was being tortured, the victim’s hands and legs were reportedly chained to the ground. The police reportedly forced the victim to take snuff and finish it. The victim was allegedly mopped in the face with a household mop to remove the sweat and mucous which was on his face. The police then took statements and transferred him to Rhodesville Police Station. On his way there the police reportedly tried to strangle him. At Rhodesville Police Station, the victim alleges that the perpetrators pointed him out as a petrol bomber and he was assaulted. He was then detained in the cells and given no food until he was released on 9 April at 14:00hours.

The victim was reportedly arrested around 22:00hrs by ZRP officers for having transported a public address system to an MDC Rally. The police allegedly shoved him into their Landrover vehicle and drove for about 30 minutes from his house before assaulting him and 3 other men who were already in the police vehicle. The victim was reportedly attacked with a spanner on his right cheek and sustained a weeping eye with blurred vision.

Nine police officers are alleged to have assaulted the victim, an MDC member who resides at Hopley Farm. It is alleged the officers took him by force, handcuffed and forced him into their car. They took him to Mukuvisi River where they wanted to drown him. A truck that was passing by flashed its lights towards them and they stopped. They took him to ZRP camp in Waterfalls were they put him in cells and started beating him using batons, kicks and an iron rod. He was beaten under both feet and sustained bruises. He also sustained ulcerations on the anterior aspect of his right leg and back where he was beaten with the iron rod. While in detention the victim was denied food and when he ate it was under intimidation. He was also denied some of the food that was brought to him. He was released on 30 April 2007.

The victim reports that, she was at home with her 3 year old son when four men in plain clothes, wielding baton sticks arrived and demanded to know where her brother, an MDC member was. The victim was reportedly assaulted with baton sticks and open fists for reportedly hiding her brother. She was hit all over her body and sustained defensive injuries on her arms from trying to block the baton sticks.

Suspected Zanu PF supporters allegedly assaulted the victim, a teacher, for being a member of the PTUZ. They also accused him of masterminding a spate of petrol bombings across the country. The victim was reportedly taken to the ZANU PF Headquarters where he was put in a dark room, assaulted with wooden planks, clenched fists, booted feet and a concrete brick on the left side of his chest and buttocks. Police officers stationed at the ZANU PF Headquarters also took turns to beat him. He was searched and they took away his cell phone and Z$600 000.

Two male victims were allegedly approached by about 5 Zanu PF youths at Machipisa Shopping Centre. They were accused of being opposition activists since they were wearing a Combined Harare Residents Association T - shirt and a ZCTU T - shirt. They were assaulted with open hands and then dragged into the Zanu PF Harare District Offices. They were put into a very dark room where they were further assaulted with baton sticks. The victims were ordered to lie under a bench with their feet raised and then they were beaten under the feet. After the beating under the feet they were forced to jog. They were ordered to lie on their abdomens and were beaten on the buttocks and backs. They were then forced to wash their faces using toilet water whilst singing the song Zimbabwe Ndeyeropa. They were released at around 17:00 hours.

The police allegedly assaulted 53 WOZA women after demonstrating at the ZESA offices. They were demonstrating against the incessant power cuts and high tariffs. The police reportedly fired warning shots into the air when they woman tried to flee from them. The women were then taken to Kuwadzana Police Station and later transferred to Harare Central Police Station. They were ordered to lie on their stomachs and assaulted on the buttocks with a baton stick by one police officer. The victims spent the night in police cells. The following morning they were taken to The Law and Order Section where they were further assaulted. The police further assaulted the women by stamping on them with booted feet when they failed to pay admission of guilt fines. They were later released after their colleagues paid the fines.

On the day in question, two armed plain - clothes police officers reportedly apprehended the victim at Unit O Shopping Centre in Chitungwiza. The police accused him of petrol bombing police stations across the country and also wanted more information on the purported training military programmes in South Africa which MDC members had been engaged in. The victim was allegedly blindfolded before being taken to the Police General Headquarters in Harare. On arrival he was allegedly forced to bang his head onto the ground whilst the police assaulted under the feet. The victim was then taken to Chitungwiza to pick up one of his colleagues, also an MDC member. They were both reportedly taken to Manyame Air Base whereat they were further assaulted. Whilst at Manyame, the victims were reportedly forced to eat raw chillies and take snuff. The police then took the victims to Highlands Police Station where they were in custody for two nights. The victims were then taken back to Police Headquarters where they were assaulted again before being transferred to Harare Central Police Station. They were then released on 11 April at around 09:30 hours.

∑. Temerity Gunidza, a fruit vendor, was reportedly harassed and made to lie in a pool of stagnant water by soldiers guarding the Mbare Studios of Radio Zimbabwe while he was on his way home. The victim reports that the soldiers accused him of being a member of the MDC and part of the group that was responsible for the petrol bombings around the country. The soldiers allegedly ate some of the vendor’s fruit before forcing him to roll in a pool of dirty water. A motorist whose car had broken down near the studios was also forced to roll in the pool of dirty water together with the vendor.

The victim was reportedly assaulted at Mbare Msika by four unidentified men for being an MDC member. The assailants took the victim into an office at the Mbare Msika car park where he was assaulted with sticks. The assailants also trampled on the victim whilst he was lying on the ground.

The victim alleges that four men knocked on his door at the University of Zimbabwe campus and threatened to break in if he did not open. His roommate opened the door and the four men entered before starting to beat the victim up. His roommate was also slapped but he managed to escape and ran away. The assailants continued assaulting the victim and he decided to jump out of the first floor room to the ground where he collapsed. The four men disappeared and his colleagues carried him back to his room.

∑.Levison Chikafu, a prosecutor in Mutare was reportedly detained for six hours at Mutare Central Police Station. He was questioned over his alleged acceptance of a bribe from a jailed murderer and granting bail to undeserving suspects. However, his lawyers allege that he was being victimised for prosecuting justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa for obstructing the course of justice and pushing for the arrest of CIO officer Mwale for the murders of two MDC activists during the run up to the 2000 general elections.

The victim, the Manicaland regional chairperson of the NCA was allegedly assaulted by police officers that accused him of distributing ZCTU material. The police who had not previously identified themselves as such intimidated him with a gun after he had tried to resist arrest. He was handcuffed tightly and assaulted on the chest. He was also kicked on the back with booted feet. He was taken to Nyanyadzi Police Station where they detained him for 3 days and he was subjected to constant interrogation. The police reportedly charged the victim with assaulting police officers. He went to court on 5 April where he paid ZW $50 000 bail and was remanded out of custody until 27 June 2007.

The victim was reportedly arrested by police officers form Mutare Central Police Station. He was then transferred to Harare Central Police Station’s Law and Order Section where he was accused of having gone for terrorist training in South Africa and bombing Chisamba Police Station. The police assaulted the victim with empty drink bottles, and wooden planks on his back, buttocks, and under the feet. The police also stamped on his chest with booted feet. The victim reportedly bled from the nose and the police denied him medical attention because the doctors a police report on what had happened to him. The police for 4 days continued assaulting. At one time, he was told to lie on the ground while a policewoman stamped on him and asked him to cry like what Tsvangirai did when they assaulted him on 11 March 2007. The victim was reportedly released on 2 May after paying an admission of guilt fine of Z$2 500 for disorderly conduct.

The victims were allegedly abducted by four armed men whilst coming from an MDC rally in Dorowa.The victims were reportedly forced into the car the abductors were using at gunpoint and were all blindfolded. They were reportedly taken to an unknown place where their hands and feet were tied together and assaulted the whole night. The victims were released on the following day and had to walk for about 20km to get back home.

The victim, an MDC member was reportedly harassed by suspected ZANU PF youths after they found out that he was an MDC member and had got a farm under the land reform programme. The ZANU PF youths reportedly torched his house at the farm and also destroyed his property. The perpetrators took the victim to a ZANU PF rally where they forced him to sing, poured water on him and one of the perpetrators twisted his leg. On the following day, the victim was taken to another ZANU PF meeting where police officers Weza and Sengai were present and took him to Raffingora to explain himself to the ZANU PF chairperson in the area. The victim has since fled the area.

The victim was reportedly assaulted with knobkerries on the back and arms by suspected ZANU PF youths after she failed to disclose the whereabouts of her mother who is an MDC member. The assailants also reportedly attacked her because of not attending ZANU PF meetings.

On the day in question, the victim was reportedly assaulted by ZANU PF supporters for refusing to attend their meeting. The assailants allegedly tied up the victim before assaulting and burning with fire on the neck. The victim fell unconscious and the village headman had to pour water onto him to resuscitate him.

The victim, an MDC supporter, alleges that she was coming from a church meeting when three men suspected to be ZANU PF members suddenly appeared from a field where they had been hiding and called her name. She responded and the assailants reportedly tripped her. They beat her with a whip before she managed to escape.

On the same day in question another MDC supporter was reportedly attacked by a group of war veterans whilst she was sleeping around 00:00 hours. The group reportedly broke into her house and started beating with clenched fists and kicking her with booted feet. One of the assailants trampled on her neck resulting in her falling unconscious.

The victim, the MDC Youth Chairman for ward 22 in Marondera was reportedly assaulted by seven suspected ZANU PF supporters for allegedly burning a house belonging to a ZANU PF member. The men slapped and kicked the victim several times whilst one of them sat on the client. The assailants reportedly gave the victim six hours to leave the area. However, the victim failed to leave on that day and was apprehended by the ZANU PF supporters on the following day whilst he was trying to board a bus to Rusape. The ZANU PF supporters took him to Mbuyanehanda where he was blindfolded and assaulted for about three hours.

On the day in question the victim, an MDC member was having beer with a group of ZANU PF supporters when an argument over the MDC ensued. The ZANU PF members started assaulting him and a fight started. Seeing that they were being overpowered, the group of ZANU PF supporters called police officers that then dispersed the group before arresting the MDC supporter. The victim was kicked, punched and beaten with baton sticks by the police. The police detained the victim for six days at Murehwa Police Station. The victim was only released after paying Z$2 500 admission of guilt fine.

The victim, CIO officers reportedly took an MDC supporter from his home to Mamina Police Station. On their way to Mamina, the CIO officers stopped their car and assaulted with him clenched fists and baton sticks him for being an MDC activist. The victim reportedly lost consciousness from the beatings. The assailants asked him to leave the area within one week and on 16 April the CIO officers went back to the victim’s house looking for him. The victim has thus fled his home for fear of further torture.

∑.The Chivi North Legislator and the former Masvingo Governor, Josiah Hungwe as well as other ZANU PF members were reportedly injured following a skirmish between the two ZANU PF factions that were contesting in the ZANU PF Masvingo provincial elections. It is alleged that some youths belonging to the opposing faction attacked the two politicians with stones, causing injuries. The skirmish allegedly started when youth aligned to one faction tried to block a bus ferrying supporters of the other faction to the polling venue in Masvingo. Other ZANU PF supporters were also injured in the skirmish.

∑.The MDC deputy organising secretary for Hwange, Morgan Komichi was reportedly taken from his home around 22:00 hours by five police officers who were in a ZRP Traffic Section vehicle. The police officers told the victim that they wanted to question him on an incident that had occurred at his work place. However, when the victim’s wife went to Hwange Police station the next morning, she was told that no docket had been opened for her husband and that he was not at the police station.

∑.Two National University of Science and Technology (NUST) students, Trust Nhubu and Valencio Jachi, were reportedly abducted and tortured by suspected CIO operatives in Bulawayo. The two students were adducted following a public meeting in Bulawayo at which the two passed comments on the rampant corruption in government institutions. One of the students claimed that he was accused by the CIO operatives of being a front for the MDC. The students were allegedly taken to Mzilikazi Police Station, and then to a bush in Tsholotsho were the state agents allegedly tortured them. It is reported that one of the students sustained injuries after being beaten on the head with clenched fists by the suspected state agents. The two students were found with bruises all over their bodies in a bush about 200km from Bulawayo.

The victim was reportedly arrested at the Beitbridge Border Post by plain-clothes police officers whilst on his way to South Africa for driving a car that belongs to an MDC activist’s wife. The driver was forced back to Harare and accompanied by two police officers that handed him over to police at Harare Central Police Station. The victim was released on 25 April 2007 after spending one night in police cells.

The table below and the graphs on page 4 above depict the number of violations committed on

the persons whose circumstances are described in the report. One individual may have been subjected to many violations and thus appear under several categories of violations.

Monthly totals of human rights violations from 1 January 2007 to 30 April 2007

Zambia

Mozambique

The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (also known as the “Human Rights Forum”) is a coalition comprising 17 member organisations. It has been in existence since January 1998 when non-Governmental organisations working in the field of human rights joined together to provide legal and psychosocial assistance to the victims of the Food Riots of January 1998.

The Human Rights Forum has now expanded its objectives to assist victims of organised violence, using the following definition:

“Organised violence” means the inter-human infliction of significant avoidable pain and suffering by an organised group according to a declared or implied strategy and/or system of ideas and attitudes. It comprises any violent action, which is unacceptable by general human standards, and relates to the victims’ mental and physical well-being.”

The Human Rights Forum operates a Research and Documentation Unit and offers legal services to assist victims of organised violence and torture claim compensation from perpetrators through its Public Interest Unit.

The Human Rights Forum can be contacted through any member organisation or through:

Address: 8^th Floor Bluebridge North, Eastgate, Harare; Telephone: 250511 - Fax: 250494

The International Liaison Office,56- 64 Leonard Street London EC 2A 4JX– email: IntLO@hrforumzim.com

1 The Code of Conduct has a provision that states that:

No law enforcement official may inflict, instigate or tolerate any act of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, nor may any enforcement official invoke superior orders or exceptional circumstances such as a state of war or a threat to national security, internal political instability or any other public emergency as a justification of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

2 See Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 1 of the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and Article 5 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

CIO – Central Intelligence Organisation	ZANU PF – Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front
MDC – Movement for Democratic Change	ZCTU – Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions
MP – Member of Parliament	ZNA – Zimbabwe National Army
NAGG - National Alliance for Good Governance	ZPS – Zimbabwe Prison Service
NCA – National Constitutional Assembly Association	ZRP – Zimbabwe Republic Police
OVT – Organised Violence and Torture	ZNLWVA – Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans
POSA – Public Order and Security Act	ZIMTA – Zimbabwe Teachers Association
PTUZ – Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe	ZUPCO – Zimbabwe United Passenger Company
UMP – Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe	AIPPA – Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act

	MAIN EVENTS 2007
January	State security agents allegedly go on a rampage assaulting, torturing and shooting at illegal diamond miners near Marange in Manicaland. The ZRP anti - riot squad violently disrupts a demonstration of close to 500 NCA members. 8 Christian Alliance members are arrested and harassed by members of the ZRP on the launch of the Christian Alliance Kadoma Chapter. Arnold Tsunga (Director of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights and Acting Secretary of the Law Society of Zimbabwe) is arrested and interrogated by CIO operatives at the Harare International Airport on his return from the World Social Forum in Kenya.
February	Police impose a ban on “political gatherings” Students, WOZA, NCA and the MDC hold a number of demonstrations separately against tertiary fee hikes, for “love” and against violence; for a new Constitution and for elections to be held in 2008 rather than 2010 respectively Raymond Majongwe and other PTUZ leaders are arrested as teachers protest against their low salaries. Police are allegedly assaulted at Ximex Mall in Harare by suspected MDC supporters and Municipal police officers are assaulted by angry vendors. St Mary’s (Harare) widows and elderly women are assaulted by the police as they demonstrate against high rentals and high water bills. The MDC attempts to hold a star rally in Highfield at Zimbabwe Grounds on 18 February 2007 but the rally is dispersed by police.
March	Save Zimbabwe Campaign attempts to hold a prayer meeting on 11 March in Highfield. The meeting is thwarted by the riot police who use brute force on civic leaders and others who intended to participate. Gift Tandare dies after being shot by the police on 11 March at the aborted prayer meeting in Highfield Following the violence on 11 March, widespread assaults and abductions ensue mainly perpetrated against human rights defenders, MDC supporters and leadership, reportedly by state security agents. Officers from the CID raid ZCTU offices on 13 March ahead of a planned stay away. Nelson Chamisa, MDC MP for Kuwadzana, is severely assaulted at the Harare International Airport on his way to attend a meeting of the ACP – EU in Brussels A memorial service for Gift Tandare is held on 27 March in Borrowdale. Last Maengahama, Deputy Secretary for Local Government in the Tsvangirai led faction of the MDC, is abducted in Borrowdale and dumped in Mutorashanga by suspected state agents after attending a memorial service for Gift Tandare on 27 March. Police cordon off much of the central business district of Harare as they conduct a raid at the MDC headquarters on 28 March. 80 people, including senior MDC officials, are arrested during the raid.
April	82 WOZA members are arrested for protesting against incessant power cuts by the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority in Bulawayo’s High Density suburbs Levison Chikafu, a prosecutor in Mutare is detained for six hours at Mutare Central Police Station. He was questioned over his alleged acceptance of a bribe from a jailed murderer and granting bail to undeserving suspects. It is being suspected that he was being victimised for prosecuting the Minister of Justice Two National University of Science and Technology (NUST) students, Trust Nhubu and Valencio Jachi, are reportedly abducted and tortured by suspected CIO operatives in Bulawayo on 19 April. The Chivi North Legislator and the former Masvingo Governor, Josiah Hungwe as well as other ZANU PF members are reportedly injured following a skirmish between the two ZANU PF factions that were contesting in the ZANU PF Masvingo provincial elections.

	Jan	Feb	March	April	Total
Abduction/ kidnapping	0	0	8	2	10
Assault	45	183	128	68	424
Attempted murder	0	0	0	0	0
Death threats	0	2	1	1	4
Disappearance	0	0	0	0	0
Displacement	0	0	0	0	0
Freedom of expr/ass/mvt	553	294	597	125	1569
Murder	1	0	1	0	2
Political Discrim/ intim/vict	1	294	597	10	902
Property related	0	0	3	0	3
Rape	0	0	0	0	0
School closure	0	0	0	0	0
Torture	4	82	168	10	264
Unlawful arrest	16	278	203	51	548
Unlawful detention	16	278	203	51	548

OVERVIEW

Notes to the tables:

MAIN EVENTS 2007

January

February

March

Monthly totals of human rights violations from 1 January 2007 to 30 April 2007

Zambia

Mozambique

Botswana

South Africa