TATENDA MOMBEYARARA, a pro-democracy campaigner has been hospitalised after he was abducted on Wednesday 14 August 2019 and tortured by some unidentified men, who seized him from his residence in Chitungwiza.
The 37 year-old Mombeyarara was abducted by six heavily armed men who assaulted and severely tortured him after they seized him from his Chitungwiza residence on Wednesday morning before dumping him at a quarry mine near Hatfield suburb in Harare.
Mombeyarara’s tormentors wanted him to furnish them with details pertaining to an anti-government protest organised by the opposition MDC party and scheduled for Friday 16 August 2019.
During interrogation, the unidentified men asked Mombeyarara, a well-known Human Rights Defender (HRD), about the number of people expected to attend the demonstration and other details such as how the protest had been organised.
The unidentified men also interrogated Mombeyarara about the training which he allegedly received in Maldives in May.
Although Mombeyarara denied any involvement about organising the anti-government protest and any knowledge of the details of the demonstration, his tormentors continued torturing him using a torture method commonly referred to as falanga, which entails beating the HRD under his feet.
Over the years, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights has documented several cases, where state security agents used the Falanga torture method against HRDs in a desperate bid to extract confessions during interrogations.
Mombeyarara is one of several people arrested in May and charged with subverting constitutional government for allegedly plotting to overthrow President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government. He is currently out of custody on remand and his trial is yet to commence on charges on contravening section 22(2)(a)(iii) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.
Source: Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights
