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Arrest
and detention in Zimbabwe - Diary of the events from February 23
- April 12, 2002
Hans Christen
Sunday 24th February 2002
After snatching a few hours
of fitful sleep on the floor of the police cell, sharing filthy
blankets – one of them stained with either vomit or excrement -
with over a dozen other suspects, I was ushered into the police
station’s Charge Office where I was able to speak to my wife for
5 minutes. I was allowed to receive a cigarette and have a sip of
the juice that she had brought. Thereafter I was led back to the
cells until lunchtime when we spent a few minutes in the diamond-meshed
wire enclose outside the cell, eating sadza (maize porridge) and
kapenta (a small fresh-water fish) and sharing a communal bowl of
drinking water. Similarly we were let out for an early supper of
the same fare, after which time we were returned to the cell.
Jenny arrived in the late afternoon with
Andrew Chadwick from The Newsroom and with Sheila Jarvis, an attorney
from the law firm Atherstone and Cook. I was allowed to speak to
Jenny and to Sheila for 5 minutes but was not allowed to be given
any of the food or drink which my wife had brought. During both
visits a police officer was present in the room. I learned that
Human Rights and Aids activist Kerry Kay (who has recently appeared
on the BBC’s "Hardtalk with Tim Sebastian") had also been
taken in for questioning, but that she had subsequently been released.
3 international Election observers, one of them a Norwegian, were
also at the police station and Jenny was able to speak to them.
At approximately 9pm the cell door opened
to reveal 3 officers in plain clothes (either CID, CIO or a combination
of both). They accused Elias, Kenneth and me of conversing in sign
language – a ridiculous notion – which they said was "a very
bad thing". They chained us together using handcuffs and leg
irons and told us that as "part of the investigation"
we were being taken to an alternative place of detention. How could
the investigation possibly have benefited by us being detained "elsewhere"?
As we were asked to sign out our belongings and put on our shoes
the officers told us not to try to escape as they were armed and
would shoot "in the head". It’s highly unlikely to see
3 detainees handcuffed and leg-ironed in a row effecting an escape!
They joked loudly amongst each other, debating on whether they would
"kill to injure" or "injure to kill".
We were led to a waiting Landrover into
which we were bundled along with five officers. They then tore to
the bottom end of the police camp where it dawned on me that we
might be offloaded for further torture. It transpired, however,
that they were merely stopping for refreshment of alcoholic beverages.
Once all aboard we left the police station and drove along the slip
road parallel to the main Harare-Mutare highway. The Landrover stopped
at Ruzawi Road Service Station where more refreshments were purchased.
Clearly intoxicated and in a sadistically jovial mood the officers
proceeded eastwards along the Mutare highway. Upon enquiry, I was
told that we were going to Macheke police station. My heart sank
for there was no earthly logical reason why, for the sake of the
police investigation, we were being ferried to Macheke police station
on a Sunday night by intoxicated officers. As we passed the North
Road I was convinced that I was seeing the turn-off to our home
for the very last time. For the first time in over twenty years,
I began to pray, asking God that my end be relatively swift and
merciful. I was absolutely convinced that my two fellow suspects
and I would be severely tortured at best and at worst, killed.
The trip (which, as it turned out, ended
at Macheke police station) at over 130km/hr was quite honestly the
worst half-hour I have ever endured in my entire life. We were disgorged
at the entrance to the Macheke Charge Office where the laborious
procedure of booking in our valuables, shoes, belts, etc took place.
One of the CID/CIO officers from Marondera even told me to detach
my penis and book it into my property bag. Such was the extent of
their malicious and sadistic behaviour. No sooner had we three been
booked in, when one of the CID/CIO officers deleted my entry with
a pen and ruler. There was much conversing in Shona – I did not
understand a word, but the thought went through my mind that Elias
and Cosmos would be remanded at Macheke police station whilst I
would be taken elsewhere to face God-knows-what fate. As it turned
out, they had made a procedural error, and booked me in again.
I thought again about how this whole
operation was designed to neutralise the MDC in Marondera. The investigating
officers were clearly radical Zanu (PF) sympathisers and hell-bent
on arresting all and sundry prior to launching a full and proper
investigation. For the record, in the warned-and-cautioned statement
which I gave to the ZRP I noted that I did not support or condone
the attack on the Zanu (PF) vehicle in the police yard; neither
had I known about the attack, prior to it having been pointed out
to me once I was in custody. A crime has clearly been committed,
and the offender/s should be brought to book. However, justice should
not be selective, neither should innocent people be subjected to
torture and incarceration for two weeks (as we were to be) by partisan
State agents. Incidentally when some weeks ago, an MDC provincial
vehicle was fired upon and torched in Murehwa, no suspects were
taken into custody. There should have been a full attempted-murder
investigation, as well as one for malicious injury to property.
Following the checking-in of our effects,
we were shepherded by torchlight to the Macheke police cells – a
truly sorry place. We were shoved into a pitch black, filthy cell
where two occupants already lay. We scrabbled around in the dark
for the grubby blankets and felt our way to the latrine.
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