Sixty-six detainees have died since January 1 in Makala, the main prison in the Congolese capital Kinshasa, because of their conditions of detention, according to an official of a local human rights organization in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). ).
They died of malnutrition, suffocation or lack of care, activist Emmanuel Cole, a defender of prisoners’ rights who regularly visits detention centers, told AFP.
On Sunday, another “two prisoners died in Makala prison, I myself saw their bodies”, he adds. These two new inmates who died of their conditions of detention bring the death toll to 35 for the month of February alone, according to Mr. Cole. In January, his organization had been able to document “31 cases of death including a woman”, still in Makala.
Built in colonial times for a capacity of 1,500 people, this penitentiary center currently has 10,790 detainees, including 7,780 in preventive detention, said Mr. Cole, who monitors the situation of prisoners on a daily basis.
Unclog the place
Since the beginning of the year, the judicial authorities have granted conditional release to 635 detainees in order to unclog the place, said Mr. Cole, confirming information from Congolese media.
The meals provided to inmates are not only “insufficient” but also of “poor quality”, while “having food should be a right for every prisoner”, he insisted.
In power since January 2019, the President of the DRC Félix Tshisekedi praised his human rights record on Monday, February 27, during a speech at the Human Rights Council in Geneva (Switzerland). Mr. Tshisekedi says he “placed the protection and promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms among the priorities of [his] mandate and of the action of the government of the Republic”.
“We call on the authorities to speed up the procedures so as not to detain hundreds and even thousands of people for long periods without trial or conviction,” said Emmanuel Cole.
