This report documents the responsibility of the Security Forces to suppress demonstrations against constitutional reforms. Movements that have killed at least 50 people a year, according to Amnesty International, which shows a number of killings of protesters and arbitrary arrests.
This study focuses in particular on the demonstrations that took place in March last year, on the sidelines of the legislative and referendum polls in March last year. According to Amnesty, defense and security forces used firearms illegally in several cities across the country. This report points out on March 22 that some bodies of the deceased were not accepted in the morning of the hospital. That day, 12 people were killed, including nine by bullets, according to an Amnesty census, which in this study is based on testimonies from hundreds of people and on analysis of videos.
The authorities reject these allegations. According to Albert Damantang Camara, Minister of Public Security, the bullets did not match the equipment of four security forces. Bodies that are “systematically moved before the arrival of the political police”, notes the minister, who speaks of “instrumentalized deaths”. After each event, authorities have regularly announced the opening of an investigation into the killings, but Amnesty International remains in doubt about the outcome of these proceedings.
According to the organization, “These investigations have remained without follow-up for almost all of them”. In addition, several families of the victims do not file a complaint for fear of retaliation. “Among the families of the 12 killed on March 21 and 22, only one claimed to have filed a complaint,” laments Amnesty International, which condemns “total impunity”.
The Minister of Public Security assures his side that the investigation is “carried out to the end”, but “we are limited by the lack of logistics”, admits Albert Damantang Camara.
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