CCPR/C/131/D/2772/2016
1.2
On 7 June 2016, pursuant to rule 95 of its rules of procedure, the Committee, acting
through its Special Rapporteur on new communications and interim measures, requested the
State party to take measures to ensure the protection of the author and his family while the
communication was under consideration by the Committee.
The facts as submitted by the author
2.1
The author makes a living from his small business in Bukavu in the province of SudKivu, an area that has long been known for the many abuses committed by the authorities
against the local population. On 17 December 2014, at around 6 a.m., he was arrested at his
home by members of the National Intelligence Agency, who broke in, took him to their
premises and placed him in detention without showing him any arrest warrant. The author
was immediately placed in solitary confinement, in a cell barely larger than a cupboard,
where he could neither sit nor lie down. It was not until several hours later, at around 10 a.m.,
that he was informed of the reasons for his arrest while being questioned under torture.
2.2
During the questioning, H.K. (an officer of the National Intelligence Agency who had
been present during the arrest) accused the author of having stolen US$ 172,844 from D.C.,
the author’s cousin and former associate. The author was accused by H.K. of having used the
money to purchase property for himself, including a house that he had recently bought.
During this questioning, the author was not given the opportunity to defend himself, despite
the existence of evidence that could have proved his innocence, such as the accounting books
that he and D.C. were keeping at the time. When the author refused to confess, H.K. wrote a
false confession on a sheet of paper. He then asked the author to sign the document without
allowing him to read it beforehand. When the author refused, H.K. grabbed a truncheon,
forced the author to lie on his stomach and began striking him on his back and buttocks.
When the pain became unbearable, the author, in tears, finally agreed to sign the papers that
H.K. had put in front of him. After he had signed the document, the author was returned to
his cell and was not allowed to leave it.
2.3
From this point on, the author was held in poor conditions and was also deprived of
his rights to consult a lawyer, to be brought before a judge, to see his family,1 to have access
to medical care and to receive food on a regular basis. A few days later, the author was
subjected to a second bout of torture when H.K. summoned the author’s father and D.C. to
the premises of the National Intelligence Agency. During this aggressive round of
questioning, H.K. again tried to extract a confession from the author, while he did not ask
D.C. a single question. When his efforts again failed to bear fruit, H.K. grabbed a truncheon
and beat the author for around 20 minutes while the author’s father begged H.K. to stop.
Unable to stand the pain, the author finally signed the papers. This episode left the author
with significant physical sequelae, including a fracture to his right forearm, which he
sustained while trying to shield himself from the truncheon blows.
2.4
During his detention, the author repeatedly informed L., a National Intelligence
Agency officer charged with reception duties, of the pain and suffering that he was enduring
as a result of his having been beaten with a truncheon and whipped. The author asked to be
treated or at least to be given medication to alleviate the pain. L. recorded all the author’s
complaints in a notebook, but no action was subsequently taken. The author never received
any treatment for the beating to which he had been subjected.
2.5
At around 7.30 a.m. every morning, through a small tinted glass window in his cell,
the author would see D.C. driving through the gates of the premises of the National
Intelligence Agency in a car from which D.C. would emerge in the company of H.K. On
several occasions, through his window, the author caught a glimpse of D.C. giving money to
the sentry who opened the entrance gate and to the military police officers inside the National
1
2
On 18 December 2014, the author’s wife went to the premises of the National Intelligence Agency.
Even after having paid the soldiers on duty, she was allowed to talk to her husband for only one
minute, just long enough to see that he was shaking and very downcast, and to ask him why he had
been arrested. The author only managed to tell his wife that D.C. had had him arrested because of a
money-related matter, about which he knew nothing. The soldiers then abruptly cut short the
conversation and took the author back to his cell.
GE.21-09615