- smelling, small, toilets could not flush, toilets were overflowing with urine and other human waste, the cells were infested with parasites such as mosquitoes which sucked Complainant's blood for the duration of his stay and made sleep impossible for the Complainant, the cell had a bad stench and was very cold, resulting in the Complainant contracting breathing problems and a cough which lasted for six months, Complainant was refused a blanket during the night and further refused permission to take his bath. According to the Complainant, all these constituted torture and inhuman and degrading treatment. 56. The Complainant alleged further that the Respondent State used court remands to deny him of a trial within a reasonable time, thus psychologically torturing him and depleting his resources. According to the Complainant, the matter was remanded at least five times - from 20th September 2004 - 21st February 2005 (within a period of six months), and he noted that these remands were calculated to harass and psychologically torture him. He said most of the time, the Central Intelligence Organisation would come and take pictures of him thus, intimidating him. 57. [The] Complainant added that when he continued publishing the Respondent's human rights abuses in Porta Farm, the Respondent State sent its security agents to trail him and on various occasions, attempts were made to harm him. According to the Complainant, on 12th September 2004, "man suspected to be a CIO official driving a white Mercedes went to the Complainant's family and left threatening messages of death to Complainant's brother". The message from the CIO official, according to the Complainant was that the Complainant was an enemy of the state and will be killed. [The] Complainant was forced to call his brother to stay with him for security reasons. In another incident, the same man, this time accompanied by three others, paid a second visit and issued similar threats to the Complainant. 58. He indicated that on 30th September 2004, he was stopped by men driving a blue Mercedes Benz who again threatened him. He said because this later incident took place near his house, it was enough reason for him to be afraid for his life. He added that in August 2004, on several occasions he received numerous telephone calls where some of the callers threatened him with death and one caller said "We are monitoring you. We will get you. You are dead already". He said he informed the Board of Amnesty International - Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights and his lawyer about the threatening calls. He added that vehicles with people acting strangely were observed parking around his residence and work place during what he termed odd hours, until he decided to go into hiding and subsequently fled to South Africa. He says he suspects the Respondent State wanted to abduct and kill him, adding that there are many cases in which people have been abducted and never seen again. 59. Other incidences which, according to Complainant, gave him reason to believe his life was threatened, include the fact that in January 2005 the Respondent State refused to issue passports to his family, even though he applied since November 2004. Because of this he was forced to leave his family behind who still reside in Zimbabwe. As at the time of submission of this communication, they had not been given the passports. He also indicated that he was forced to abandon his studies with the Institute of Personnel Management of Zimbabwe (IPMZ) and at the Zimbabwe Open University. He said in October 2004, his daughter had to abandon school when the whole family went into hiding. He said at the end of September 2004, he received a great shock when he found all files in his laptop deleted, and suspected the disappearance of the files was linked to Respondent's agents. 60. He concluded that "by reason of the arbitrary arrests and detentions, torture, inhuman and degrading treatment, delays in charging and trying him, surveillance by the Respondent's agents and others cited in the afore-mentioned incidents, the Complainant submits that the Respondent flagrantly violated his rights and freedoms and those of his family...". 61. From the above submissions of the Complainant, the latter seeks to demonstrate that through the actions of the Respondent State and its agents, a situation was created which made him to believe that the Respondent was out to harm and/or kill him. He thus became concerned about his safety and that of his family. Due to the fear for his life, he claims, he went into hiding and eventually fled into a neighbouring country, South Africa, from where he submitted this communication. 62. In a complaint of this nature, the burden of proving torture and the reasons why local remedies could not be exhausted rests with the Complainant. The Complainant has the responsibility of proving that he was tortured and describing the nature of the torture or the treatment he underwent, and the extent to which each act of torture, intimidation or harassment alleged, instilled fear in the Complainant to cause him to be concerned for his life and those of his dependants, to the extent that he could not attempt local remedies but preferred to flee the country. It is not enough for the Complainant to claim he was tortured or harassed without relating each particular act to the element of fear. If the Complainant discharges this burden, the burden will then shift to the Respondent State to show the remedies available, and how in the particular 7