“When I regained consciousness, they then asked me to change my clothes, because all the clothes that I had were now tattered and spoiled by blood,” an emotionally drained Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (Artuz) secretary general, Robson Chere, said as he recounted his torture ordeal following his arrest on July 31.
He was pulled off a Victoria Falls-bound plane on the day at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International alongside activists Namatai Kwekweza, Samuel Gwenzi and Vusumuzi Moyo and tortured.
They were released last Wednesday after spending 35 days in pre-trial detention charged with plotting anti-government demonstrations to disrupt the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) Summit held in Harare in August.
More than 160 opposition activists and pro-democracy activists were arrested and denied bail in the lead-up to the Sadc summit.
Chere and his co-accused persons were granted US$150 bail each at the High Court.
Over 20 other pro-democracy activists were also released last week on bail.
In an interview with Standard People, Chere said he was travelling to Victoria Falls to attend the 5th African Philanthropy Conference where he was going to represent Artuz on the day of his arrest..
“The plane started the engine preparing to take off, but it then stopped,” Chere said.
“It was then announced that they were now going to delay taking off due to a situation beyond their control.”
Chere said it never occurred in his mind that they were targeted persons.
“Just after five minutes, there were six people who got onto the plane,” he said.
“They were wearing reflectors and one was a woman.
“They then came to someone, who was seated next to me and ordered him to disembark from the plane.
“They also did the same to me, Namatai, and one Vusumuzi Moyo.”
He said the officers did not identify themselves when he asked why they were being forced off the plane.
“I was about to make a call and they forcibly took my phone because l was sensing danger due to the fact that they were refusing to identify themselves,” he said.
“They ordered the plane staff to remove our bags from the cargo.”
Chere said they were later taken to a domestic terminal.
“Inside the domestic terminal the six people told us to wait inside saying that there were people coming to see us, but they were still refusing to identify themselves or to tell us anything about the people they were supposedly waiting for,” he added.
“We waited for an hour before a group of 14 to 15 people came.
“These people were directed to a room, which was just adjacent to the terminal.”
Chere said he was the last to be interrogated.
“So when I got into that room I was then asked questions at the same time, several people, like, three of them asking me what I'm going to do in Victoria Falls, who funded my trip and then they also were saying, ‘we know you want to protest during the Sadc summit and we want to teach you and discipline you such that hapamihwe mihwe panotyowa tyowa munhu.”
Chere said they beat him up using iron bars and wooden blocks.
“They then handcuffed me and made me lie facing upwards and then others were holding my legs and they beat me while recording a video,” he narrated.
“I passed out when they were beating me. I regained consciousness when they poured water on my face using a bucket.
“When I regained consciousness, they then asked me to change my clothes, because all the clothes that I had were now tattered and spoiled by blood.
“They then made me change my clothes from the clothes that I wanted to use in Victoria Falls.”
The government has been reluctant to ratify and domesticate the Treaty on the Convention against Torture (CAT) for Zimbabwe to have a legal instrument that criminalises torture.
Zimbabwe and Tanzania are the only countries in Sadc which have neither signed nor ratified CAT.
Chapter 4 of the constitution provides that no person may be subjected to physical or psychological torture.
Chere said they were handed over to CID Law and Order between 7pm and 8pm, who took them to Harare Central where they were then charged with disorderly conduct.
The trio faces allegations of protesting outside the Harare magistrates court against the arrest and continued detention of dozens of opposition CCC activists.
“So we were taken to Harare Central Prison on a Friday,” Chere said.
“We were then transferred to Chikurubi Maximum Prison on Sunday.”
According to Chere, they were locked up with dangerous criminals in the D-Class section of Chikurubi Maximum Prison.
His prison cell was overcrowded, he said.
“At Chikurubi Maximum Prison, we were in a cell which is designed to carry around 15-20 people but we were overcrowded in that cell,” he said.
“Since I was also injured, I was also now in a place where we were overcrowded.
“I had challenges sleeping because l had injuries all over hence most of the time l would stand.”
Despite his injuries, Chere said he was denied access to a medical doctor in prison.
He was only allowed access to medical attention after the intervention of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights.
“Before the medical examination, I had internal injuries that were exposed due to the torture,” he said.
“So the doctor then also applied for the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) to take me also to the medical facility of my choice where there is such equipment.
“The ZPCS wanted to take me to Parirenyatwa, but the equipment that was needed for the medical examination was not at Parirenyatwa.
“Last Friday, I was then taken to a medical facility of my choice where I was sent.”
Chere is still undergoing treatment.
“There is a high risk of permanent injuries in the body,” he said.
Chere’s bail conditions indicate that he must report to the police every last Friday of the month.
They were also ordered to refrain from interfering with state witnesses and must reside at specified residential addresses.
Zanu PF spokesperson Christopher Mutsvangwa last month said there was no reason to continue detaining the activists after the summit in which President Emmerson Mnangagwa assumed its chairmanship.
He mocked the detained activists claiming they had received their ‘deserved medicine’.