The Human Rights Commission has welcomed the conviction and subsequent sentencing of a police officer to 20 years imprisonment with hard labour by the Kitwe High Court for causing grievous bodily harm to a suspect.
The Commission is encouraged by the sentence of 20 years handed down to the police officer as it will serve as deterrent on other law enforcement officers who habitually engage in cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, including torture of individuals who are suspected of committing criminal offences. The Commission, therefore, urges the courts to continue meting out sentences befitting the seriousness of the acts of brutality against members of the public suspected of having committed offences by law enforcement officers.
The Commission continues to receive cases of police brutality, inhuman and degrading treatment of suspects, including torture, and wishes to reiterate its deepest concern that there seems to be no end to such despicable and dehumanising acts which sometimes begin at the point of arrest and continue during interrogations and detention at Police Stations and Correctional Facilities.
It is for this reason that the Commission continues to engage the State to come up with a law that will criminalise torture in order to protect the inherent rights and dignity of individuals. The Commission is hopeful that the adoption of the Bill Criminalising Torture in Zambia by Cabinet on 4th December 2017 will result in the enactment of the law that will give legal effect to the constitutional provision against torture so that perpetrators can receive appropriate punishment and the victims of torture be afforded effective remedies through the courts of law. The enactment of the anti-torture legislation is part of Zambia’s state obligations under the United Nations Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
The Commission wishes to remind law enforcement officers and the public that torture is a crime against humanity and its absolute prohibition is not only part of customary international law, but also provided for under Article 15 of the Constitution of Zambia. Torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment are unacceptable in this age of human rights and therefore is no justification for such acts under any circumstances at any time including during a state of emergency or political instability.
Zambia is signatory to UN Convention against Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (UNCAT) which prohibits torture and accepted the recommendation made by nine countries during the Universal Periodic Review process at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in November 2017 to end all acts of torture and to criminalise torture.
The Commission will continue to advocate for the enactment of the law criminalising torture and for building of capacity of law enforcement officers by training them in modern investigations skills and providing them with modern equipment, tools and facilities to enable them carry out their work without resorting to acts of torture.
The Human Rights Commission is a National Human Rights Institution established under Article 230 of the 1991 Zambian Constitution as amended by Act Number 2 of 2016 to, among other human rights functions, ensure that the Bill of Rights is upheld and promoted.
Thank you ba Human rights. This is good work. Don’t tire, with the way our judiciary works, I can imagine what you went through to get here. Go further into what we now here the police arresting the mother or brother of the suspect as collateral for the suspect on the run to surrender himself. Go further & follow up on suspects being detained for more than the stipulated 24hrs with appearing before court. Police in Zambia have been abusing the powers for ages. Thank you for your none- tiring efforts
Cops should not be singled out though, they work under difficult conditions and often compromised by PF politicians. Human rights commission you are selective, how come you don’t do anything on other human rights violations?
HRC is still ndwiiii over Vesper’s killing.
“Cruel and degrading treatment”… That includes putting 400 inmates in a prison cell that is only supposed to accommodate 70 Inmates. Sometimes these cruel and degrading treatments are not just at the hands of the police. You the judiciary are equally to blame for passing harsh sentences on very minor crimes/ misdemeanours when you the judiciary know very well the punishment is too extreme for the crime and that makes you too part and parcel of the human rights abuse we are experiencing in Africa as a whole. Community service for minor crimes has been proving to be more effective at rehabilitation as well as more useful to the community as a whole. I mean that is free labour for cleaning drainages, picking up rubbish and sweeping the cities why can’t we do the logical? Is it because…
Ctn…is it because we have sadistic members of the judiciary who enjoy the suffering of others and this culture has been allowed to fester in the younger generation of the legal system? This must change. For police/ prison officers to torture some one or to allow other prisoners to abuse a suspect/ convict it means the whole system is rotten including the judges who will knowingly send someone to a death camp.
You the human rights should also educate your public to comply when they go against the law not resisting arrest in the name of human rights, it forces law enforcement officials to use some force and all you see are the wrongs of the enforcement officers. Or better still you the human rights who understand a criminal suspect better go and apprehend them, interrogate them and just hand over the case to law enforcement officials when you have the facts. Also ask these criminals why they don’t respect other peoples rights but they want their rights to be respected.
The police enjoys abusing their prey. I remember when I was there the police started verbally abusing me, slapping me before they could even establish the truth. They even started insulting my 2 year old son saying “even you ugly baby will be a criminal”. Barely a week, they established that I was COMPLETELY innocent. Later they started trying to befriend me. I wanted to sue the police abusers tbut later I gave up. God will deal with them. Nature has a way of equalizing and balancing up things. Whenever you treat someone unfairly wrong be rest assured that nature will catch up with you. Let the police offer services not brutality.
Touched by that nasty experience. How on earth would one verbally abuse a two year old with impunity.
@bbc well said my brother, the same apples with magistrates who will sentence old women to 5 years for selling 10 grams of marijuana. Such a sad state of affairs, meanwhile that person is a mother, grandmother of orphans and a struggling farmer. And we wonder why we never develop. Keep the cells for those serious sex offender’s such as child molesters/ rapists, armed robbers, murderers, those who attack at night, hardcore drug dealers and kidnappers not minor offenders. If it means punishing minor offenders let them clean the towns so as to prevent cholera, let them patch up the roads. Simple.
Who was the police this story has little substance
A gentleman in Norway who had killed more than twenty five children got an eighteen year jail sentence. Torturing a suspect gets Twenty years! This is excessive. A five year sentence with subsequent dismissal was going to be enough. Let me hurry to say that i abhor torture. It is very very inhuman.