POLICE PROBE JOURNALISTS’ TORTURE

POLICE in Zimbabwe have opened investigations into the torture of two journalists over a story on a foiled coup against President Robert Mugabe. Editor Mark Chavunduka and reporter Ray Choto were arrested in January by the military after their paper ran a story of a thwarted coup plot. The charges against the pair arose from the news report of an alleged coup plot by army officers angered by Mugabe’s military intervention in the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Chavunduka and Choto said they were severely tortured during the military detention and a medical doctor confirmed that they had been subjected to electric shocks and physical assault.