Mulembe bemoans torture of suspects
Mulembe bemoans torture of suspectsBy Kelvin Tembo
Tuesday May 20, 2008 [04:00]
HUMAN Rights Commission director Enoch Mulembe has said Zambia is still battling with increasing numbers of torture and inhuman treatment of suspects in detention. In an interview, Mulembe said there was a lot of torture and abuse of suspects in police cells and prisons.
Mulembe’s remarks follow recent reports of two police officers in Mumbwa district and one prison warder of Mwinilunga who were arrested for allegedly beating up suspects in detention in separate incidents.
Mulembe said authorities needed to be accountable for such deaths.
“We have always been against suspicious deaths of persons who go into prisons or police cells in good health and are suddenly reported dead or having hanged themselves or worse still beaten to death,” Mulembe said.
He said the Commission had received similar reports and had engaged police to carry out investigation.
Mulembe said every human being deserved fair treatment, even as a suspect.
“There is no justification for the use of brutal tactics to get information from suspects,” said Mulembe. “Sometimes suspects end up giving wrong information just to be freed from torture.”
Mulembe said the Commission condemned such actions especially by law enforcers not because they condoned crime but because they wanted rights of every human being to be upheld.
Recently, police in Mumbwa arrested two police officers for allegedly beating up a suspect to death on April 22, 2008.
The two officers arrested Alfred Nyanga, 42, of Kachili village in senior chief Shakumbila’s area following a fight with his friend after a drinking spree near Keezwa police post at Keezwa Basic School.
Upon his arrest, Nyanga was handcuffed to another suspect before being beaten to death.
And on Sunday, a prison warder in Mwinilunga was arrested for beating a prisoner death.
North Western Province commanding officer Fabian Katiba confirmed the arrest of the prison warder on Sunday.
Labels: ENOCH MULEMBE, HRC, POLICE BRUTALITY
posted by MrK @ 3:50 AM
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