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Monday 2 June 2008

SWAZI POLICE BRUTALITY COMMONPLACE

You just can’t keep Swazi police brutality out of the limelight.

After my report on Thursday (29 May 2008) that Amnesty International had condemned Swaziland for killing a man in cold blood when he was trying to surrender to them, comes news of two people who are suing the police for assault.

The Times of Swaziland (30 May 2008) reports that one of the men says that police beat him in front of his mother at his homestead. Police also destroyed the family toilet.

Details are sketchy in the Times report but each man is claiming compensation for their injuries.

Police brutality is nothing new in Swaziland. I reported last month that a 21-year-old man told magistrates how police brutally assaulted him in the cells, with officers taking turns to beat him with whatever they could lay their hands on. One hit him on the head with a hammer.

In addition, the Swazi Observer has reported (27 May 2008) how an alleged robber told magistrates that police officers at Nhlangano ‘took it in turns to beat and jerk him while others covered his face with surgical gloves’.

The man told magistrates that he was called to the police station to answer accusations.

‘The police did not give me a chance to explain but tortured me instead.

‘I was tied to a bench facing upwards, one of the officers started punching me. One sat on me and kept nudging me hard below the chest in such a way that I could not even speak.

‘They told me they would never stop until I admit I was part of the crime.’


The Observer reports, ‘At one point he said he preferred that they killed him.’

He went on to say, ‘One of the officers came along with hand gloves and they used them to suffocate me.’

Amnesty International in its report stated that police have in the past said they would investigate allegations against their officers, but so far no reports on the investigations have been forthcoming.

See also
REALITY OF SWAZI POLICE BRUTALITY
BRUTAL SWAZI POLICE CONDEMNED

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