Source: Amnesty International –
The Togolese authorities must investigate allegations that protesters were subjected to torture, following protests earlier this month, and respect their commitments to protect the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression, Amnesty International said today.
Dozens of people were arrested on 5 and 6 June in Lomé after taking to the streets to protest against a government crackdown on dissent, the cost-of-living crisis and changes to the constitution that could allow the current President of the Council of Ministers Faure Gnassingbé to remain in power indefinitely.
Fifty-six people were released on 9 June, according to the public prosecutor. Three protesters are still detained as of 17 June, according to several sources.
By banning protests and repressing them with force, the authorities are in breach of international law.
Marceau Sivieude, Amnesty International’s interim Regional Director for West and Central Africa
While detained, several protesters were subjected to torture or other ill-treatment, according to testimonies gathered by Amnesty International.
“These Togolese protesters are being harshly punished solely for expressing their opinions. By banning protests and repressing them with force, the authorities are in breach of international law which protects the right to protest. They have also failed to respect the commitments they made during the last Universal Periodic Review, including the prohibition of torture in all its forms; and the investigation of alleged acts of torture,” said Marceau Sivieude, Amnesty International’s interim Regional Director for West and Central Africa. “The crackdown on freedom of expression and peaceful assembly must end immediately.”
In a statement read out on television on 9 June, the public prosecutor referred to ‘individuals [who] in groups noisily occupied the public thoroughfares […], orchestrating raucous noises and erecting barricades’, even though ‘no declaration of a public demonstration had been registered’, which in his view constituted ‘aggravated disturbance of public order’.