Treason trialist dies in custody

Another detainee accused of supporting the Caprivi secessionist movement has died in police custody, a Namibian human rights groups said on Tuesday. The National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) told IRIN that Cassius Pekelezo died while under police guard at the Katima Mulilo state hospital, in the northeastern Caprivi Strip. This has brought to eight the number of detainees who have died in custody since 1999, the rights groups said. Last month another detainee, Erasmus Chika, died at the Grootfontein prison, which holds most of those awaiting trial for treason over their alleged links to the Caprivi Liberation Army (CLA). "The police have assured us that we will have access to the post-mortem once it has been completed. We are monitoring the situation very closely. So far we have unverified accounts that the deceased [Pekelezo], as well as two other detainees had been tortured," NSHR Director Phil ya Nongoloh told IRIN. Nongoloh said police had refused to allow Pekelezo's family to visit him even after he had been admitted to hospital. "If everything was above board why did the police refuse his family visiting rights? This raises serious doubts as to the real cause of his death. It seems as if these men are being deliberately neglected as punishment for their alleged involvement in the secessionist attempts," Nongoloh said. Pekelezo, the NSHR said, was arrested on the 17 July together with Frederick Natimbilwa and Albert Mangilazi. All three had been suspected of being members of the CLA, which attacked Katima Mulilo in August 1999. Twelve people died in the raid on the town. But police officials in Caprivi have dismissed the allegations of torture as a "fabrication". "When this person [Pekelezo] was arrested he was already sickly. The doctors can tell you about his condition, it has nothing whatsoever to do with torture," Chief Inspector Hieronymous Goraseb, Caprivi Regional Commander, told the Namibian newspaper. After months of government opposition, the Supreme Court in June ruled that the 128 people accused of high treason, murder and a number of other crimes, must be provided with legal aid by the government. The authorities had been opposed to spending taxpayers' money on funding the defence of those linked to the CLA. Facing an unusually large number of charges, with some 500 or more witnesses for the prosecution, the trial is expected to last years. Meanwhile, the NSHR has also raised concern over the plight of 590 Namibians who had recently returned from asylum in Botswana under the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) voluntary repatriation operation. The returnees were among some 3,000 Namibians who fled to Botswana in 1998 fearing a government clampdown on alleged secessionists in the Caprivi Region. "Those people are desperately in need of food, drinking water, shelter and medical help. They are living on wild fruit and roots to survive," Nongoloh told IRIN. Those in need are San returnees at Chetto, Omega 3 and Bwabwata in Western Caprivi, NSHR said. The region is experiencing drought-induced food shortages. Under a tripartite agreement involving Namibia, Botswana and UNHCR, the returnees are to be provided with relief assistance, including adequate food, shelter, healthcare and education. A third group of refugees are expected to be repatriated from Botswana on 15 October, which would bring the total number of returnees to 931.