Victim Of Army Torture Alleges Harassment By CIO Operatives
A man from Gokwe Nembudziya’s Mutora stands is living in fear after he was harassed by alleged members of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) and the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) for reporting a case of torture by members of the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA).
Shadreck Muchena was allegedly assaulted by uniformed army officials at Nembudziya business centre on 1 February this year.
NewsDay established that Muchena sustained injuries to his right ear, nose and throat after an iron bar and the butt of a gun were used to assault him.
His attempts to have his docket finalised by the police hit a brick wall as they were seemingly not keen to conduct an identification parade.
Muchena was last week assisted by the Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (ZimRights) to pursue his case. He said:
I had gone to Nembudziya to buy maize-meal when two soldiers approached us. My cousin managed to escape, but they charged towards me and started beating me, kicking me on the ribs and backside before they took me to a police base where the torture continued.
Muchena said he was later released without charge, but from February 2-8 he tried to pursue the case to no avail.
Some police officers allegedly coerced him to withdraw the charges against the army officers citing challenges in investigating such cases.
Muchena then approached the human rights organisation which helped him to pursue the case — numbers RRB4641695 and CR 07/02/21.
However, Muchena alleges that CIO officials were threatening him for seeking help from ZimRights.
