49 year old man of Matero Township in Lusaka this morning repeatedly broke down before the Legal and Justice Sector Reform Commission when he narrated how he allegedly lost his potency due to police torture.
The petitioner submitted to the Commission that a named police officer at Matero Police Station tortured him resulting in him losing his potency.
Sealled Katwamba, a retrenchee failed to hold his emotions when he narrated how a police officer he had differed with in a personal matter implicated him in an aggravated robbery case.He said he was brutality manhandled and tortured at Matero police station.
Mr. Katyamba told the Commission that he was tortured and forced to accept that he committed the crime which he did after he could not handle the pain and was later admitted to the University Teaching Hospital where he spent months to recover.He disclosed that upon being discharged from the hospital the police officers re-arrested him but that he was only saved by lawyers from the Legal Resources Foundation who took the case to court where he was compensated K10 million (old currency) which he said was not worth his lost potency.
The petitioner who has a speech impairment (stammers) disclosed that because of too much torture to his private parts he can no longer have children.
When asked whether he has ever been to UTH for a medical check up to see if his potency could be restore, Mr. Katyamba cried further saying he does not want to see the hospital because of the psychological effects it has on him.
Commissioner Emily Sikazwe calmed the petitioner down while her colleagues and members of the public who were in attendance looked solemn with others almost breaking down in sympathy.
Mr Katyamba disclosed that the two police officers who were involved in his case were transferred to Kafue and Kitwe and that no disciplinary action was taken against them.
And Mr. Katyamba said the Anti-Corruption Commission should be part of police officers at roadblocks to curb corruption.
Commenting on the matter, Commissioner Geoffrey Sakulanda noted that despite Mr Katyamba’s case having been addressed by the courts the Human Rights Commission should be informed so that action can be taken against the police officers in their individual capacities for violating human rights.
Meanwhile, a former Employee of the Human Rights Commission has disclosed that the Commission has no capacity to carry out its mandate of preventing human rights violations and following up cases.Speaking when he made his submission before the Fredrick Chomba led commission, Samuel Kasanka disclosed that the Human Rights Commission has no presence in most districts and that it was faced with the challenge of inadequate funding and low staffing levels.
Mr. Kasanka noted that due to its failure to discharge its duties to the expectation of the people, Zambians have lost confidence in the Commission.
He further submitted that the Human Rights Commission was aware that the Law enforcement agencies use torture to force suspects to confess which he said was a violation of human rights.
Zambia Police are becoming the scum of our society.How can they tortue a man for life like this? Zambia police needs to be disbanded.
LIfetime Viagara should be part of the judgement
@Nubian do you feel any difference between a Viagra-erected and a natural one?
Sorry mudala. Panakuchaya ku mapwazi zoona! No bana manje. Sue them!!!
Ndipo men are into crying masiku ano.Yesterday it was Changala crying like a baby and today it is Katwamba.
the time of good police persons is gone now is beasts we have in service time is coming when I have no place to hid everything about them will be destroyed include their souls will be hell on earth and heaven.
The government needs to call an immediate halt, train police to interrogate suspects properly, and punish violators.”
On Wednesday, there was a protest in which Tanzanian Truck Drivers refused to move in Isoka after a named traffic officer used a butt of a gun to ‘split’ the skull of a Tanzanian national who was said to have resisted arrest. The man said he had refused to pay a K10 ‘standard bribe’ at the check situated at Muyombe Junction in Mwaiseni area. The cops are not only beggers but also brutal, uniformed streetkids.
The Zambian police routinely engage in cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, including torture, to extract confessions. The government should investigate, discipline those found to be implicated, and train officers to interrogate suspects without coercion, Human Rights Watch, the Prisons Care and Counselling Association, and the AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa interviewed prisoners at six prisons throughout Zambia’s central corridor. They described what happened to them in police custody, before they were transferred to prison. Dozens of detainees said they had been beaten with metal bars, hammers, broom handles, police batons, sticks, or even electrified rods. Many said they had been bound first and hung upside down. Female detainees reported that police officers tried…
….to coerce sex in exchange for their release.
“Hanging suspects from the ceiling and beating them to coerce confessions is routine police practice in Zambia,” said Rona Peligal, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The government needs to call an immediate halt to police abuse, investigate violations, and strengthen grievance mechanisms.”
These reports of physical abuse of men, women, and children held in police custody indicate a widespread and systematic pattern of brutality, in some cases rising to the level of torture, Human Rights Watch said.
Several former police detainees still bore the scars from the abuse at the time of their interviews; many reported suffering serious long-term health consequences. Inmates showed researchers their misshapen fingers – a result…
… of being smashed by hammers and iron bats – and scars on their feet and hands resulting from beatings with police batons. Two inmates had lost their vision as a result of blows to the head, while others complained of chronic pain and swelling resulting from repeated beatings to their legs without subsequent medical treatment.
“I’m having some problems as a result of my torture,” one detainee abused in police custody reported. “I can’t feel my hands anymore.”
“I was beaten by the police when I was in police custody. They put my arms under my knees and clasped my hands in front of my knee. After cuffing me, I was beaten with a short baton. My feet were aching and swelling. They beat me on my feet. I received no medical treatment after the police beat me. I still have a problem with my leg-when I walk too much, it swells.”
– Clive, 21, male detainee, Mwembeshi Prison
-source HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
“When I was in police custody, they beat me, a torture I have never experienced in my lifetime. They beat me, undressed me, whipped me. They put handcuffs on me so hard that the blood couldn’t flow. They turned me upside down and hung me upside down, with a steel cord between my legs. They swung me and beat me. They saw I was crying and screaming and put a cloth in my mouth to suffocate me. I fainted – I couldn’t handle the pain. They were abusing me with their language, calling me a prostitute. They put me somewhere where I couldn’t talk to anyone. They were trying to get me to say something -I don’t know. They were just torturing me for four days, beating me. After, there was lots of blood where I was beaten. My hands were green and swelling…
They hit me on my ears and face with a metal band. There were scratches on my face. They said, ‘You have to give us information about who had killed the person.’ They tried to find out who had killed the person – I didn’t know. The police are supposed to investigate a case, not to torture.
After, they were scared to take me to a doctor because I still had injuries. They only took me after one month, when the swelling was down. When I went to the doctor, the police followed me into the doctor’s room and listened to me. The police told the doctor that I was lying. ‘Just a simple torture that she was given, not much,’ he said.”
– Tandiwe, 27, female detainee, Lusaka Central Prison
-Source HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
“I [was arrested for] aggravated robbery. In these cases they treat the subject as if the suspect is already guilty. My hands were cuffed for four days and nights. They passed a metal bar between my hands and legs and hung me between two tables and beat me with the police baton. They mostly beat my low back, under my feet and on top of my feet and the hands and the head. There were almost six guys -they were forcing me to accept a situation I never knew….Words were put in my mouth. They introduced men to me and told me they were my gang members. In fear of pain I accepted. Brought here [to prison], I was told I am jointly charged with them. I know from civics class that I was supposed to go to court and get a lawyer, but none of that happened….
…..I was tortured twice a day for five days. Breakfast is torture; lunch is torture. They used electrified rods too. I’m not certain where they were applied. I can’t really remember everything. Pictures come into my mind. Sometimes I feel like committing suicide, or like this was all my fault. That I will be rejected by my family. Sometimes I feel that my hopes and dreams are shattered. Sometimes I feel that it is the end of the world.”
– Titus, 21, male detainee, Mumbwa Prison
– Source HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH