These are among the findings aired on BBC this week in a half-hour special about the Marange diamond fields.
The BBC spent six months undercover in south-east Zimbabwe, interviewing miners, hospital workers, grave diggers and members of the police and army guarding the area.
"Even if someone dies there, the soldiers do not disclose, because they do not want it known," an army officer told the BBC.
Witnesses said the camps have been operating for at least three years.
In an internal document seen by the BBC, the European Union said it was confident that two mines now meet international standards and it wants diamonds from those areas to be immediately approved for export, which would partially lift a trade ban dating back to 2009.
The ban was imposed by the Kimberley Process (KP), the international organisation that polices diamonds, following reports of large-scale killings and abuse by Zimbabwe's security forces in the Marange diamond fields.
The main torture camp uncovered by the programme is known locally as "Diamond Base". Witnesses said it is a remote collection of military tents, with an outdoor razor wire enclosure where the prisoners are kept.
It is near an area known as Zengeni close to Marange, said to be one of the world's most significant diamond fields. The camp is little over a kilometre from the main Mbada mine that the EU wants to approve exports from.
The company that runs the mine is headed by a personal friend of President Mugabe. A second camp is located in nearby Muchena
"It is the place of torture where sometimes miners are unable to walk on account of the beatings," a victim who was released from the main camp in February told the BBC.
"They beat us 40 whips in the morning, 40 in the afternoon and 40 in the evening," said the man, who still could not use one of his arms after the beatings and could barely walk.
At Marange, the police and military recruit civilians to illegally dig for diamonds after which the stones will be shared. However the workers are taken to the camps for punishment if they demand too large a share of the profits.
Documents obtained by the BBC from hospitals in Mutare showed long lists of patients admitted with dog bites or gunshot wounds. Pages from the log at Mutare mortuary showed bodies arriving with similar injuries.
Marange diamonds were banned in 2009 by the KP, the international initiative of the diamond industry, national governments and non-governmental organisations that attempts to keep conflict or "blood" diamonds out of the market.
Representatives of the KP visited the area briefly in August 2010 and concluded that the situation in the diamond areas was still problematic but there had been significant progress.
However this week’s revelations on BBC suggest that torture and even the execution of miners remains a problem.
Post published in: News