16 prisoners dead in Mbuji-Mayi

DRC: Alarm over lack of care leading to 16 prison deaths
Reuters AlertNet 25/2/2008
KINSHASA, 25 February 2008 (IRIN) - Human rights activists in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have condemned the death by starvation and lack of medical care of 16 inmates in a congested prison in Mbuji-Mayi, capital of the central province of Kasai Orientale. "The state has failed in its obligations because there are laws, national and international, which require it to feed and care for prisoners," said Jean-Marie Eley Lofele of the NGO Association Internationale des Avocats de la Défense et du Reseau des Droits Humains au Congo. The deaths occurred between 1 January and 19 February and included remand prisoners ... The UN Mission in Congo (MONUC) attributed the deaths to malnutrition, starvation and lack of healthcare. "Nine of the dead had been sentenced and seven were remand prisoners," said Kemal Saiki, MONUC spokesman ... The governor of Kasai, Nogy Kasandji, acknowledged the problem of a lack of food and healthcare for prisoners in the province, saying there was no provision in the province's budget for such expenditure ... The prison was designed to accommodate 100 inmates, but now holds 398 people - 387 men and 11 women ... "Each visitor has to pay between 200 and 500 Congolese francs (36-91 US cents) to have access to his prisoner, and if he has brought any food, a guard can ask for 500 francs," said Saiki. "The prison in Mbuji-Mayi does not meet the minimum UN standards for the treatment of prisoners ... preventive detention is routinely used in both civil and military courts in DRC even for minor offences. Suspects can languish in jail for months before they are tried. "Generally, it is the rich whose cases are heard ...