Democratic Republic of Congo
18.07.01
Urgent Interventions
'D.R. Congo
Case COD 190901/ Case COD 190901.CC
The International Secretariat of the OMCT requests your URGENT Intervention in the following situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Brief description of the facts
The International Secretariat of the OMCT has been informed by La voix des sans voix des droits de l'homme (VSV), member of the OMCT network, of the arbitrary arrest of Mr. Yaka Swedi and the assault on his family by members of the Détection Militaire des Activités Anti-Patrie (DEMIAP) ("Military Detection of Unpatriotic Activities") in Kinshasa.
According to the information received, on Tuesday 11 September 2001 DEMIAP soldiers abducted Mr. Yaka Swedi alias "Kosco", a delegate of the Maï-Maï, from his home in Kinshasa on Avenue Mungamba in the Commune of Kintambo.
According to our sources of information, the DEMIAP men who arrived at about 5 a.m., accompanied by the police, scaled the wall of the property and forced the door open. In doing so they grabbed Mr. Swedi's young cousin Lwendama Abdoul, and ill-treated him by hitting him with the butts of their rifles and with bayonets on his legs and his back. While trying to save his cousin, Mr. Swedi gave himself up to the aggressors. In spite of that, it appears that the young cousin has sustained serious injuries. It would appear that before taking Mr. Swedi away to the DEMIAP headquarters, the soldiers also locked a one and a half year old child in a room while it was asleep.
According to the information we have received, the soldiers came back at about 10 a.m. and terrorized all and sundry after noting that the room in which they had locked the baby had been opened in their absence. The soldiers then locked Mr. Swedi's wives in the house and made all the children go outside so as to interrogate them under the threat of guns and bayonets and orders such as "talk or you are dead". Our source of information reports that all they wanted to know was who had freed the child. John Swedi, aged 7, was threatened by a gun aimed at his chest; Christophe Swedi, aged 6, had a bayonets pressed against his throat and Kashindi Dina, aged 10, was nearly hurt on her left shin by a bayonet.
Our source of information also reports that after this interrogation the soldiers went back into the house. They lead away Mr. Swedi's two pregnant wives : Mrs. Mulasi Amuri aged 24, other of one child and Mrs. Na'Yenge Adolphine, also aged 24 and mother of 4 children. They were allegedly transferred to the DEMIAP for interrogation and released the same day at about 6 p.m.
Furthermore, it would appear that the soldiers confiscated a portable telephone, documents and other less valuable objects (clothes).
It appears that Mr. Yaka Swedi himself is still being held at the DEMIAP in precarious conditions, and that he is unable to receive visits by his family or a lawyer. His detention is a financial burden on his wives because, as in most prisons in the DRC, prisoners are dependent on their families for their meals and Mmes Amuri and Na'Yenge are financially dependent on Mr. Swedi.
The International Secretariat of the OMCT is concerned for the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Swedi and condemns the arbitrary arrest of Mr. Swedi and the violence inflicted on his family, in particular on the children, in the course of a particularly brutal operation for which no explanation has been provided.
Action requested
We request you kindly to write to the authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo asking them :
i. to take all the necessary measures to safeguard the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Swedi;
ii. to guarantee him access to a lawyer and to visits by his family;
iii. to order his immediate release in the absence of any valid accusations, or if appropriate, to bring him before an impartial and competent court while safeguarding his procedural rights at all times:
iv. to order a complete and impartial inquiry into the circumstances of this arrest and the accompanying violence so as to identify those responsible and bring them before a competent court, and to apply the penal, civil and/or administrative sanctions as foreseen by the law;
v. to ensure the right of the victim's family to compensation for the suffering inflicted on them and the theft of their possessions;
vi. to guarantee psychological rehabilitation for the victims, taking into account the particular sensitivity of young children;
vii. to ensure respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms all over the country, according to national laws and international standards.
Addresses
· President Joseph Kabila, Présidence de la République, Kinshasa-Ngaliema, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Fax : (+243) 880 02 120
· Ministry of Justice, POB 3137, Kinshasa Gombé, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Fax (+243) 880 55 21
· Ministry of Human Rights, Fax (+243) 12 20 664
Please also write to the diplomatic representation of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in your country.
Geneva, 19 September 2001.
Kindly inform us of any action you may take, citing the code of this appeal in your reply.
The International Secretariat of the OMCT requests your URGENT Intervention in the following situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Brief description of the facts
The International Secretariat of the OMCT has been informed by La voix des sans voix des droits de l'homme (VSV), member of the OMCT network, of the arbitrary arrest of Mr. Yaka Swedi and the assault on his family by members of the Détection Militaire des Activités Anti-Patrie (DEMIAP) ("Military Detection of Unpatriotic Activities") in Kinshasa.
According to the information received, on Tuesday 11 September 2001 DEMIAP soldiers abducted Mr. Yaka Swedi alias "Kosco", a delegate of the Maï-Maï, from his home in Kinshasa on Avenue Mungamba in the Commune of Kintambo.
According to our sources of information, the DEMIAP men who arrived at about 5 a.m., accompanied by the police, scaled the wall of the property and forced the door open. In doing so they grabbed Mr. Swedi's young cousin Lwendama Abdoul, and ill-treated him by hitting him with the butts of their rifles and with bayonets on his legs and his back. While trying to save his cousin, Mr. Swedi gave himself up to the aggressors. In spite of that, it appears that the young cousin has sustained serious injuries. It would appear that before taking Mr. Swedi away to the DEMIAP headquarters, the soldiers also locked a one and a half year old child in a room while it was asleep.
According to the information we have received, the soldiers came back at about 10 a.m. and terrorized all and sundry after noting that the room in which they had locked the baby had been opened in their absence. The soldiers then locked Mr. Swedi's wives in the house and made all the children go outside so as to interrogate them under the threat of guns and bayonets and orders such as "talk or you are dead". Our source of information reports that all they wanted to know was who had freed the child. John Swedi, aged 7, was threatened by a gun aimed at his chest; Christophe Swedi, aged 6, had a bayonets pressed against his throat and Kashindi Dina, aged 10, was nearly hurt on her left shin by a bayonet.
Our source of information also reports that after this interrogation the soldiers went back into the house. They lead away Mr. Swedi's two pregnant wives : Mrs. Mulasi Amuri aged 24, other of one child and Mrs. Na'Yenge Adolphine, also aged 24 and mother of 4 children. They were allegedly transferred to the DEMIAP for interrogation and released the same day at about 6 p.m.
Furthermore, it would appear that the soldiers confiscated a portable telephone, documents and other less valuable objects (clothes).
It appears that Mr. Yaka Swedi himself is still being held at the DEMIAP in precarious conditions, and that he is unable to receive visits by his family or a lawyer. His detention is a financial burden on his wives because, as in most prisons in the DRC, prisoners are dependent on their families for their meals and Mmes Amuri and Na'Yenge are financially dependent on Mr. Swedi.
The International Secretariat of the OMCT is concerned for the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Swedi and condemns the arbitrary arrest of Mr. Swedi and the violence inflicted on his family, in particular on the children, in the course of a particularly brutal operation for which no explanation has been provided.
Action requested
We request you kindly to write to the authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo asking them :
i. to take all the necessary measures to safeguard the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Swedi;
ii. to guarantee him access to a lawyer and to visits by his family;
iii. to order his immediate release in the absence of any valid accusations, or if appropriate, to bring him before an impartial and competent court while safeguarding his procedural rights at all times:
iv. to order a complete and impartial inquiry into the circumstances of this arrest and the accompanying violence so as to identify those responsible and bring them before a competent court, and to apply the penal, civil and/or administrative sanctions as foreseen by the law;
v. to ensure the right of the victim's family to compensation for the suffering inflicted on them and the theft of their possessions;
vi. to guarantee psychological rehabilitation for the victims, taking into account the particular sensitivity of young children;
vii. to ensure respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms all over the country, according to national laws and international standards.
Addresses
· President Joseph Kabila, Présidence de la République, Kinshasa-Ngaliema, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Fax : (+243) 880 02 120
· Ministry of Justice, POB 3137, Kinshasa Gombé, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Fax (+243) 880 55 21
· Ministry of Human Rights, Fax (+243) 12 20 664
Please also write to the diplomatic representation of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in your country.
Geneva, 19 September 2001.
Kindly inform us of any action you may take, citing the code of this appeal in your reply.