{"id":2559,"date":"2019-01-26T14:49:30","date_gmt":"2019-01-26T14:49:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/zimbabwe\/?p=2559"},"modified":"2019-01-26T14:49:30","modified_gmt":"2019-01-26T14:49:30","slug":"we-assaulted-and-broke-legs-admits-zimbabwe-soldier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/we-assaulted-and-broke-legs-admits-zimbabwe-soldier","title":{"rendered":"‘We assaulted and broke legs’ admits Zimbabwe soldier"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dusk had fallen on the second day of violent anti-government protests in Harare when the company commander gathered his men and relayed orders for the night’s operation.<\/p>\n

The task, said a long-serving NCO, was straightforward: go into the poor suburbs of Zimbabwe’s capital, find opposition activists, and “punish them.”<\/p>\n

“Our lieutenant told us to find them. We got our information of where the Movement for Democratic Change activists live from members of Zanu PF,” the soldier told\u00a0The Daily Telegraph<\/a>.<\/p>\n

According to his own account, the soldier would take part in systematically breaking legs and would personally commit at least one rape in a door-to-door operation on January 15.<\/p>\n

\n

At least 12 people have been killed and more than 300 wounded, many of them from gunshots, since protests broke out across the country on January 14.<\/p>\n

Zimbabwe’s government has denied authorising soldiers to commit abuses in its efforts to restore order.<\/p>\n

But the country’s independent Human Rights Commission has accused security forces of systematic torture in the subsequent crackdown.<\/p>\n

\n

Rights groups yesterday raised the alarm about sexual violence.<\/p>\n

“We have received very disturbing reports of a number of cases of women allegedly raped by security forces,” Dewa Mavhinga, southern Africa director for Human Rights Watch, said.<\/p>\n

“Beatings, harassment and other abuses have continued after [President Emmerson] Mnangagwa’s return and there are no clear actions from the government to hold those committing abuses accountable.”<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dusk had fallen on the second day of violent anti-government protests in Harare when the company commander gathered his men and relayed orders for the night’s operation. The task, said a long-serving NCO, was straightforward: go into the poor suburbs of Zimbabwe’s capital, find opposition activists, and “punish them.” “Our lieutenant told us to find […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":2023,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8,35],"tags":[167,68,316],"class_list":{"0":"post-2559","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-head-lines","9":"category-homepage-english","10":"tag-protesters","11":"tag-protests","12":"tag-soldiers"},"yoast_head":"\n'We assaulted and broke legs' admits Zimbabwe soldier - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/we-assaulted-and-broke-legs-admits-zimbabwe-soldier\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"'We assaulted and broke legs' admits Zimbabwe soldier\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dusk had fallen on the second day of violent anti-government protests in Harare when the company commander gathered his men and relayed orders for the night’s operation. The task, said a long-serving NCO, was straightforward: go into the poor suburbs of Zimbabwe’s capital, find opposition activists, and “punish them.” “Our lieutenant told us to find […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/we-assaulted-and-broke-legs-admits-zimbabwe-soldier\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-01-26T14:49:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/upload\/sites\/14\/2019\/01\/Soldiers-Zimbabwe-fuel-protests.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"799\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"559\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/we-assaulted-and-broke-legs-admits-zimbabwe-soldier\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/we-assaulted-and-broke-legs-admits-zimbabwe-soldier\",\"name\":\"'We assaulted and broke legs' admits Zimbabwe soldier - zimbabwe\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/we-assaulted-and-broke-legs-admits-zimbabwe-soldier#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/we-assaulted-and-broke-legs-admits-zimbabwe-soldier#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/upload\/sites\/14\/2019\/01\/Soldiers-Zimbabwe-fuel-protests.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-01-26T14:49:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-01-26T14:49:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/2e02b5816e71b1149d79877f669a85e4\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/we-assaulted-and-broke-legs-admits-zimbabwe-soldier#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/we-assaulted-and-broke-legs-admits-zimbabwe-soldier\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/we-assaulted-and-broke-legs-admits-zimbabwe-soldier#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/upload\/sites\/14\/2019\/01\/Soldiers-Zimbabwe-fuel-protests.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/upload\/sites\/14\/2019\/01\/Soldiers-Zimbabwe-fuel-protests.jpg\",\"width\":799,\"height\":559},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/we-assaulted-and-broke-legs-admits-zimbabwe-soldier#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"‘We assaulted and broke legs’ admits Zimbabwe soldier\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/\",\"name\":\"zimbabwe\",\"description\":\"\u0623\u062e\u0628\u0627\u0631 \u064a\u0648\u0645\u064a\u0629 \u0639\u0644\u0649 \u0645\u062f\u0627\u0631 \u0627\u0644\u0633\u0627\u0639\u0629\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/2e02b5816e71b1149d79877f669a85e4\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"'We assaulted and broke legs' admits Zimbabwe soldier - zimbabwe","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/we-assaulted-and-broke-legs-admits-zimbabwe-soldier","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"'We assaulted and broke legs' admits Zimbabwe soldier","og_description":"Dusk had fallen on the second day of violent anti-government protests in Harare when the company commander gathered his men and relayed orders for the night’s operation. The task, said a long-serving NCO, was straightforward: go into the poor suburbs of Zimbabwe’s capital, find opposition activists, and “punish them.” “Our lieutenant told us to find […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/we-assaulted-and-broke-legs-admits-zimbabwe-soldier","og_site_name":"zimbabwe","article_published_time":"2019-01-26T14:49:30+00:00","og_image":[{"width":799,"height":559,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/upload\/sites\/14\/2019\/01\/Soldiers-Zimbabwe-fuel-protests.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/we-assaulted-and-broke-legs-admits-zimbabwe-soldier","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/we-assaulted-and-broke-legs-admits-zimbabwe-soldier","name":"'We assaulted and broke legs' admits Zimbabwe soldier - zimbabwe","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/we-assaulted-and-broke-legs-admits-zimbabwe-soldier#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/we-assaulted-and-broke-legs-admits-zimbabwe-soldier#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/upload\/sites\/14\/2019\/01\/Soldiers-Zimbabwe-fuel-protests.jpg","datePublished":"2019-01-26T14:49:30+00:00","dateModified":"2019-01-26T14:49:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/2e02b5816e71b1149d79877f669a85e4"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/we-assaulted-and-broke-legs-admits-zimbabwe-soldier#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/we-assaulted-and-broke-legs-admits-zimbabwe-soldier"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/we-assaulted-and-broke-legs-admits-zimbabwe-soldier#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/upload\/sites\/14\/2019\/01\/Soldiers-Zimbabwe-fuel-protests.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/upload\/sites\/14\/2019\/01\/Soldiers-Zimbabwe-fuel-protests.jpg","width":799,"height":559},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/we-assaulted-and-broke-legs-admits-zimbabwe-soldier#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"‘We assaulted and broke legs’ admits Zimbabwe soldier"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/","name":"zimbabwe","description":"\u0623\u062e\u0628\u0627\u0631 \u064a\u0648\u0645\u064a\u0629 \u0639\u0644\u0649 \u0645\u062f\u0627\u0631 \u0627\u0644\u0633\u0627\u0639\u0629","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/2e02b5816e71b1149d79877f669a85e4","name":"cfeditoren"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2559\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}