© FLORIAN PLAUCHEUR / AFP
A Congolese policeman on duty in Brazzaville. (Drawing).
In Congo-Brazzaville, the public prosecutor has ordered the arrest of seven people, including four police officers, accused of torturing three individuals who are allegedly members of gangs, according to a video that is circulating on social networks. Human rights NGOs deplore at least one death and call for sanctions.
With our correspondent in Brazzaville, Loïcia Martial
Filmed for more than five minutes, the video shows police officers armed with a large hammer. They constantly hit the legs of three young people. The act of torture takes place in broad daylight under the viaduct connecting a district of Brazzaville and the northern suburbs of the Congolese capital.
According to Trésor Nzila of the Center for Actions for Development (CAD), these young people have been wrongly accused of being members of a gang. ” These tortured young people were simple unqualified individuals who made a living from small trades in Brazzaville. », He testifies.
The perpetrators are prosecuted for flagrant crime, criminal association, assault and battery. But Trésor Nzila calls for a requalification for murder with premeditation.
« The Republic of Congo has ratified the United Nations Convention once morest Torture and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights which prohibit such practices. Our organization is waiting for the facts to be reclassified, especially since there was a death of a man in this horrible affair. We will become a civil party in the current proceedings, to support the families of the victims », promet M. Nzila.
The NGOs have identified, in a mortuary in the place, a death recorded following this torture which created a great stir in the Congolese capital.
