DRC: ANR accused of torturing a citizen of Kalemie, in Tanganyika

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The ANR-National Intelligence Agency-is accused of having arrested and flogged a young man this weekend in Tanganyika. The victim has been in hospital since Saturday evening, in serious condition. On social networks, an image of the victim, pants down, bloody buttocks. The new government had promised to humanize this service.

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With our correspondent in Kinshasa, Kamanda wa Kamanda Muzembe

At the beginning of last week, Ghislain Kibwe, accompanied by a friend, made purchases for 700 dollars in a store in Kalemie. After concluding the deal, he leaves his contact details with the merchant. And five days later, that is to say on Saturday, he and his friend are invited to the ANR.

"  As soon as they arrive, they are accused of being counterfeiters  ," explains Kibwe's lawyer, Maître Joseph Mulunda. It was the merchant who alerted the services. After an unsuccessful interrogation, declares Maïtre Mulunda, Ghilain Kibwe is then subjected to torture to extract a confession from him. The lashes are chained on his bare behind ... Following this degrading treatment, the person is taken to hospital. "  He risks having consequences all his life,  " said the lawyer.

In Kalemie, capital of the province of Tanganyika, civil society organizations accuse the newly arrived ANR provincial official of having instilled terror. These associations demand that he be immediately relieved of his duties.

According to the national minister for human rights, André Lite Asebea, those responsible for these abuses were questioned. He recalls the government's policy of zero tolerance towards the blunders of the security forces. "  Nothing will prevent us from going to the end,  " he promises.

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