Africanews Jan 2001 - Zambia: Police torture suspects and dissidents

[Africanews <ramalkandy@iol.it>]

AFRICANEWS - News and Views on Africa from Africa
Issue 58 - January 2001
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Zambia
Police torture suspects and dissidents


Secret "C5" chambers with ropes hanging from the ceiling and special
places in the bush to carry out horrific acts of torture really do
exist in Zambia, police sources have confirmed anonymously.

Human rights
By Gideon Thole


As the rest of the world was busy attending Christmas celebrations,
Dave Muyembe, a former military officer with the Zambia National
Service, was battling for his life in a secret police torture chamber.

Muyembe was in great pain for a number of hours. He felt tired and ill
but bravely soldiered on until death finally won the fight.

Muyembe's life was cut short late last year by police officers who
tortured him at Lusaka's Central Police Station. After doing their
job, his torturers joined the 10 million plus Zambians in celebrating
one of the most widely commemorated event - the birthday of Jesus
Christ.

His body was recorded as Brought in Dead (BID) from Lusaka Central
Police Station and lies among several "unclaimed bodies'' in
compartment number B76 of the mortuary.

An eye witness, Leonard Chimtanda revealed that Muyembe met his fate
after he was allegedly accused of failing to "co-operate'' with police
officers from the notorious C5 detective wing .

Muyembe was flogged to death by police officers using iron bars,
sticks, pipes, and pick handles. His body was later found covered in a
blanket.

Muyembe is one of hundreds of Zambians who fail to come out of the
torture chambers at the popularly known C5 and secret places in the
bush used for torture sessions.


Police officers who spoke on condition of anonymity have confirmed
that the C5 room and secret places in the bush really do exist. They
disclosed that a torture chamber has nothing in it except ropes
hanging from the roof.

''C5 is used when they want to extract information from a suspect and
as a way of punishing culprits, though the constitution does not allow
such a practice,'' a police officer revealed.

Both police officers and people who were once detained in police
custody confirmed that officers from the Criminal Investigations
Department (CID) torture suspects in CID rooms at police stations
country wide.

A self-confessed torturer disclosed that what happens in C5 and other
CID rooms was first-degree torture. People being tortured were made to
reveal non-existent things; most suspects became confused owing to the
extensive torture.

The police officer who sought anonymity said that his superiors once
instructed him to torture suspects for six days. He disclosed that
whips, shot batons, and electric shocks are being used as tools for
torturing suspects.

But Zambia Police Service spokesperson Lemmy Kajoba has vehemently
denied that torture exists in the police service.

"Police are only allowed to give reasonable minimum force, if they
suspect the person can help them with investigations on a particular
matter,'' Kajoba said.

In a bid to respond to calls by civil society and the donor community
to investigate the existence and extent of torture - which still
remains a guarded secret denting Zambia's good governance record -
Chiluba appointed the Torture Commission of Inquiry in 1998, headed by
Supreme Court Judge Japhet Banda.

The findings of a nation-wide report on torture allegations, which
Chiluba received last June to the surprise of citizens and Zambia's
co-operating partners, are now gathering dust on the shelves in the
Presidential palace instead of being released to the public.

Ngande Mwanajiti, executive director of The Inter-Africa Network for
Human Rights and Development (AFRONET), said that some people have
taken the law into their own hands.

"If there are any politicians who feel they are above the law, they
are not alone because even policemen are above the law," Mwanajiti
said. "How can law breakers be law enforcers?"

He said that it was impossible to reform the Zambia Police Service
because it was headed by people named in various torture activities.
"This tells us something, that the people in Zambia have lost faith in
the institutions of government," Mwanajiti said.

Mwanajiti said that it is impossible to determine the precise number
of people who are subjected to torture or have died at the hands of
police. He said there are no statistics because there is a lack of
access to records and the cases of many victims are kept secret.

Torture has continued to exist in Zambia contrary to Article 15 of the
country's constitution, which states that: "No one shall be subjected
to torture, inhuman, degrading punishment or other like treatment."

Human rights activists say their campaign against the use of torture
is being frustrated by a lack of political will by the government to
put an end to the inhuman practice. They say the government is being
hypocritical by condemning torture when begging for funds from donors.