Mutare man savagely beaten by Zimbabwe soldiers dies from injuries

A 29-year-old man violently assaulted by soldiers in Mutare on January 20 died on Friday after suffering renal failure, doctors said.

Father-of-two Noah Sahombe died at Harare’s Parirenyatwa Hospital after suffering “extensive tissue damage”, the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR) said.

“He developed renal failure as a result of extensive tissue damage following the heavy assault,” said Dr Norman Matara of the ZADHR.

Sahombe, a resident of Zimunya in Mutare, left behind a 24-year-old wife and two children aged five and three.

Human rights groups accuse soldiers – who remain deployed countrywide following widespread fuel price protests on January 14 – of carrying out arbitrary detentions, beatings and killings.

The exact number of dead is yet to be established, but doctors say they have treated hundreds of people, nearly a 100 of who suffered gunshot wounds.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has defended the deployment of the military, while accusing the opposition MDC of working with the United States and Britain to create conditions for the overthrow of his government.

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