HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION CONDEMNS POLICE’S EXTRAJUDICIAL KILLINGS OF SUSPECTS
5th July, 2024
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION CONCERNED BY KILLINGS OF SUSPECTS
The Human Rights Commission (“the Commission”) is gravely concerned by the unabated violation of the right to life of suspects by the Zambia Police Service. The Commission has observed a worrying trend of suspects being shot to death, tortured, or subjected to cruel, inhuman and other ill-treatment.
Lately, the Commission has been receiving and investigating numerous complaints of alleged violation of suspects’ right to life. This trend appears to be continuing and the Commission is, therefore, calling upon the police service command to put in place immediate remedial measures.
In 2023, the Commission received a number of complaints alleging extra-judicial killings by the police. Some of these complaints related to the deaths of suspects in custody at Police Stations in Nyimba; and in Chilenje, Matero and Munali in Lusaka.
In the first quarter of 2024, a male suspect taken into custody at a Police Post in Mongu was tortured and died in transit to the hospital. In April and May, 2024, two suspects died while in custody at Matero and Kanyama Police Stations.
The recent shooting to death of four suspects at Interland PUMA filling station in Lusaka’s Libala area is also alarming. There are many other examples of suspects dying from police shootings, torture or other inhuman and degrading treatment.
The Commission is cognisant that the Constitution mandates the Zambia Police Service to maintain law and order, and to protect life and property. However, the Commission cautions that this police mandate must be executed within the constitutional framework of upholding human rights. The Zambia Police Service is reminded that the Constitution protects the right to life and other rights of every suspect, and this means that suspects must be taken before a court of competent jurisdiction to determine their guilt or innocence.
Article 18(2)(a) of the Constitution is instructive and provides that “a person who is charged with a criminal offence shall be presumed to be innocent until proven or has pleaded guilty.” This constitutional provision nullifies any justification for shooting or torturing of suspects by police officers. It is the duty of the police to facilitate the bringing of suspects to book, and not to establish the guilt of suspects or punish them outside the judicial process.
Further, although the law authorises police officers to discharge firearms in compelling circumstances, this authority must only be used within the strict legal guidelines which enforce the right to life. The use of force must be minimal and proportionate, contrary to the manner in which the police responded to the reported attempted robbery at Interland PUMA filling station in Lusaka.
The Zambia Police Service must immediately stop such killings and respect the right to life of all suspects. Accordingly, the Commission implores the Zambia Police Service command to institute thorough investigations into all the highlighted matters so that errant police officers are held accountable for any gross violation of suspects’ human rights.
(Original Signed)
Dr. Pamela Towela Sambo
CHAIRPERSON
HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION