Rights league protests against unlawful killings

The Ivorian Human Rights League (LIDHO, French acronym) has condemned a spate of unlawful killings which, it said, have been brought to its attention since the end of last year. LIDHO said in a statement on Tuesday that "numerous murders committed by gendarmes or by policemen" had been brought to its attention.

The victims include a Togolese national shot dead by a gendarme on 21 December 2001 after being involved in a scuffle with another gendarme who had stopped him to check his identity papers.

A month later, on 22 January, Joseph Ilboudo was arrested at his home by members of the judicial police accompanied by a man who claimed he had been involved in a murder, LIDHO said. Ilboudo died in police custody, LIDHO reported.

The third case was that of Bertin Loho, a store clerk arrested at his home by members of the judicial police who accused him of belonging to an armed gang that was preparing to rob the grocery store where he worked. He, too, died in police custody.

LIDHO "energically condemns" these acts which it thought had ceased with the advent of the new government, following the troubled period of 1999 and 2000, the rights group said.

Various local and international human rights organisations have blamed members of security forces for many of the killings that occurred during military rule, which began in December 1999, and around elections that marked the return to civilian rule in October 2000.

The league called on the government, the police and the gendarmerie to conduct inquiries into the latest killings so that culprits could be brought to book. It also urged that those guilty be "weeded out" of the security forces, and that families of the victims receive compensation.