Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/torture/Togo.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Togo. Some of these links may lead to websites
that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false. No
attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on
this page and others to see which aspects of Torture by Authorities are of
particular interest to you. You might
be interested in exploring the moral justification for inflicting pain or
inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment in order to obtain critical
information that may save countless lives, or to elicit a confession for a
criminal act, or to punish someone to teach him a lesson outside of the
courtroom. Perhaps your paper might
focus on some of the methods of torture, like fear, extreme temperatures,
starvation, thirst, sleep deprivation, suffocation, or immersion in freezing
water. On the other hand, you might
choose to write about the people acting in an official capacity who
perpetrate such cruelty. There is a
lot to the subject of Torture by Authorities.
Scan other countries as well as this one. Draw comparisons between activity in
adjacent countries and/or regions.
Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line. ***
ARCHIVES *** 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Togo U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/togo/
[accessed 10 August
2021] TORTURE AND OTHER
CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT There were several
abuses reported similar to the examples noted below. On April 11,
security personnel enforcing the COVID-19 state of emergency reportedly
assaulted an elderly woman, Nyanuwoede Drafoe, living in Agbodrafo, an
area approximately 20 miles from Lome. Her family
members reported she was beaten for not respecting the curfew. Human rights
organizations noted, however, the curfew was not in force in the area at that
time and that the use of force was excessive and amounted to inhuman and
degrading treatment. The human rights organizations referred the case to the
CNDH, which began an investigation. On April 23, in Lome security forces detained without charge businessman
Koko Langueh, who provided digital communication services
to opposition presidential candidate Agbeyome Kodjo. Human rights organizations reported that security
forces at the CDJP facility handcuffed him to a bench; took his money,
bankcards, and two cell phones; did not allow him to communicate with his
lawyer for five days; and beat him so severely that he lost consciousness. At
one point an officer put his foot on the victim’s neck and another held his
feet so that he could not move. Human rights organizations reported that the
victim provided photographic evidence of his injuries. On April 30,
authorities released the businessman when his lawyer arrived at the CDJP. PRISON AND DETENTION
CENTER CONDITIONS Prison conditions
and detention center conditions remained harsh and potentially life
threatening due to serious overcrowding, poor sanitation, disease, and
insufficient and unhealthy food. Physical
Conditions: Overcrowding was a serious problem. As of August 13, there were
4,117 convicted prisoners and pretrial detainees (including 96 women) in 13
prisons and jails designed to hold 2,720 inmates. For example, Tsevie Prison was at least 360 percent above capacity
with more than 200 inmates held in a prison designed to hold 56. ARREST PROCEDURES
AND TREATMENT OF DETAINEES Pretrial Detention:
Pretrial detainees and persons in preventive detention constituted 62 percent
of the total prison population. A shortage of judges and other qualified
personnel, as well as official inaction, often resulted in pretrial detention
for periods exceeding the time detainees would have served if tried and
convicted, in many cases by more than six months. ‘It’s just barbarity’: Togo’s political
prisoners describe torture in police custody Siobhan O'Grady, Los
Angeles Times, Lome, 4 June 2018 www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-togo-political-prisoners-torture-20180604-story.html [accessed 4 June
2018] Imourane Issa braced himself for the next crack of a whip across his
back. His head felt heavy on the concrete floor. He estimated that he was one
of about two dozen men being tortured in the garage. The lone woman lay
shaking in a puddle of her own urine. There in the
headquarters of Togo’s secret police — the notorious Research and
Intelligence Service — the captives were beaten, waterboarded
and forced to kneel and neigh like horses. "Some were hit
with electrical cords, some of them had their heads cracked open," Issa said. "They were forced to take their clothes
off to wipe off their own blood." Finally, they were
all herded into the backs of pickup trucks and driven away. Freedom House
Country Report 2018 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/togo/freedom-world/2018 [accessed 18 May
2020] F3. IS THERE
PROTECTION FROM THE ILLEGITIMATE USE OF PHYSICAL FORCE AND FREEDOM FROM WAR
AND INSURGENCIES? Prisons suffer from
overcrowding and inadequate food and medical care, sometimes resulting in deaths
among inmates from preventable or curable diseases. The government
periodically releases prisoners to address overcrowding, but the process by
which individuals are chosen for release is not transparent. The 2015 penal code
criminalizes torture. However, its definition of torture does not conform to
the definition in the UN Convention against Torture, and reports of torture
by security forces continue, including in 2017 against participants in
antigovernment demonstrations. Torture victims
seeking asylum in Hong Kong for nine years to settle in Canada [article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as
Stymied torture pair head to
Canada] Christy Choi, South China Morning Post, Hong Kong, 6 July 2014 [accessed 6 July
2014] The two men, former
election monitors, were fleeing torture and persecution by the military
dictatorship that has ruled Togo since 1967. During the 2005
elections, they and four other monitors fled the country after being beaten,
electrocuted and threatened with death for refusing to sign false documents
saying President Faure Gnassingbe had garnered the
most votes. Conclusions and
recommendations of the Committee against Torture U.N. Convention
against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment -- Doc. CAT/C/TGO/CO/1
(2006) www1.umn.edu/humanrts/cat/observations/togo2006.html [accessed 10 March
2013] C. Subjects of concern and recommendations 10. While noting
that article 21 of the Togolese Constitution of 14 October 1992 prohibits
torture, and welcoming the draft revised criminal code, the Committee is
nonetheless concerned by the absence of provisions in the criminal code that
explicitly define and criminalize torture, in accordance with articles 1 and
4 of the Convention. The Committee is
also concerned by the fact that no sentences have been handed down relating
to acts of torture, owing to the lack of a suitable definition of torture in
Togolese legislation (arts. 1 and 4). 11. While welcoming
the extensive project to overhaul the justice system mentioned by the State
party’s delegation, the Committee notes with concern that the existing
provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to police custody do
not provide for the notification of rights or the presence of a lawyer, and
that the medical examination of persons held is merely an option available
only at their own request or that of a member of their family, subject to the
agreement of the prosecution authorities.
Moreover, the 48-hour time limit for police custody is allegedly
rarely observed in practice, and some people, including children, are held
without charge or awaiting trial for several years (arts. 2 and 11). 12. The Committee
is concerned by allegations received, in particular following the April 2005
elections, of the widespread practice of torture, enforced disappearances,
arbitrary arrests and secret detentions, as well as of the frequent rape of
women by military personnel, often in the presence of members of their
families, and the apparent impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators of such acts
(arts. 2, 12 and 14). 22. While it takes
note of the report of the national independent commission of inquiry, the
Committee is concerned by the lack of impartial inquiries to establish the
individual responsibility of the perpetrators of acts of torture and cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment, in particular following the April 2005 elections,
which contributes to the climate of impunity prevailing in Togo (art. 12). 25. The Committee
has taken note with concern of the reprisals, serious acts of intimidation
and threats to which human rights defenders are subjected, especially those
who report acts of torture and ill-treatment (art. 16). AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL From an old article -- URL not available Article was
published sometime prior to 2015 TORTURE AND OTHER
ILL-TREATMENT Torture in pre-trial
detention was used to extract confessions or implicate defendants. In April, four
students, including three members of the National Union of Togolese Pupils
and Students, were ill-treated during their arrest
and detention in the civil prison of Kara, approximately 430km north of Lomé.
They had been charged with “incitement to rebellion” for organizing a meeting
to discuss the government’s promises to allocate scholarships. They were
released without trial one month later. In August, Kossi Amétépé was arrested
during an anti-government demonstration. He was beaten by members of the
Rapid Intervention Force and detained in their camp in Lomé, where he was
whipped with ropes and trampled upon. EXCESSIVE USE OF
FORCE The security forces
regularly used excessive force to repress demonstrations organized by
political parties. In June, the
security forces hunted down protesters in private homes as well as in a place
of worship. They also threw tear gas into a classroom at a school in the
Catholic mission of Amoutiévé in Lomé, the capital. In July, police
forces attacked the home of Jean-Pierre Fabre, Chairman of the National
Alliance for Change (Alliance nationale pour le changement, ANC). They threw tear gas for several hours
before entering by force to beat up those present and arrest some of them. Search … AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL For more
articles:: Search Amnesty
International’s website www.amnesty.org/en/search/?q=togo+torture&ref=&year=&lang=en&adv=1&sort=relevance [accessed 15 January 2019] Scroll
Down ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, March 8, 2006 www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61597.htm [accessed 14
February 2013] 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61597.htm [accessed 7 July
2019] TORTURE
AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT – Although the law
prohibits torture and physical abuse of prisoners and detainees, there were
reports such practices occurred. The intense circumstances of the election
period resulted in an increased incidence of arrest, which in turn produced
many more reports of torture than in the previous year. Some former prisoners
credibly claimed that security forces beat them during detention. There were
reports that soldiers flogged the genitals of male prisoners. Impunity
remained a problem, and the government did not publicly prosecute any
officials for these abuses. All
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ARTICLES. Cite this
webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance
& Other Ill Treatment in the early years of the 21st Century- Togo",
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