Video: Police Brutality in Zimbabwe Aimed At Journalists, Activists
A video has emerged in which members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) are seen beating up an unarmed handcuffed man.
The video posted on YouTube shows the man wailing in pain as the police continue to beat him up with sticks.
After a while, one of the officers is heard calling a colleague saying: “Dube, Dube … O shamhu yako yapera iyi” (Here, your whip is finished).
Watch the video below.
A Zimbabwean journalist who was once subjected to police beatings told News24 that police should desist from such acts.
“This is massive brutality. Instant justice by the police will never be condoned. What if the court finds the man innocent? I was once subjected to such brutality and I know how it feels,” said the journalist, who preferred to remain anonymous.
According to News Day, Zimbabwean police have often been accused of abusing power.
This comes as the whereabouts of political activist and journalist Itai Dzamara continues to be a mystery, with the opposition blaming state agents for his disappearance.
Dzamara, 36, was abducted from a barber shop in Glenview as he was having a haircut.
Reports say five men stormed the barbershop and accused him of stealing a cow before they bundled him into an unmarked white twin-cab bakkie.
Since his abduction, Dzamara’s phone has been switched off and he has not had any contact with his family.
Reports say that lawyers have not found him in police custody, despite being told that he was being held at Harare Central police station.
State security agents in Zimbabwe have in the past abducted activists opposed to President Robert Mugabe‘s rule and later turned them over to the police, according to a Voice of America report. The report says some of the activists have alleged being tortured, claims that the government has denied.
– News24
