Under martial law, a special court martial is likely to comprise local white farmers as well as members of the security forces - in practice the two may be virtually indistinguishable. In one case a husband was allowed on "humanitarian" grounds to attend a session at which his wife was being tried. He was the only person permitted to attend the hearing (no lawyer was admitted) and was told by the court president that he had in fact no legal right to be there. Eight state witnesses told the court that they had been threatened by the police with imprisonment and all had been beaten. Some had fresh wounds.
While the special courts martial are ostensibly intended to try cases under the Law and Order (Maintenance) Act and connected with the armed liberation struggle, they are believed to have also dealt with cases of stock theft - an offence which carries a mandatory 9 year prison term and which has come to be regarded by the authorities as closely connected with, and inspired by, guerilla activity. It is suspected that in practice, even longer prison sentences, and possibly even the death penalty, may have been handed down by courts martial to those convicted of stock theft/collaboration with guerillas.
