The leader of activists challenging the current regime in Guinea-Bissau, Armando Lona, said on Tuesday that he was a victim of torture during ten days of detention at the 2nd police station in Bissau.
At a press conference, Lona, who was released on Monday by court order, explained the circumstances of the demonstration against the regime, and also described details of torture in the cells.
The coordinator of the Popular Front, an organization of youth associations, unions and women’s groups, said it was “with great regret and sadness that police brutality was committed” in the face of a “peaceful demonstration by citizens.”
Armando Lona reported that he was “attacked several times” by police during the demonstration, leaving him with a cut on his finger, that a woman who was four months pregnant was also beaten by police, and that another mother, as a child, he was among 93 detained.
The activist also described the circumstances in which they were “severely beaten” by police at the 2nd police station in Bissau.
“While we were being brutally abused, someone was filming. This means that someone was going to view these images. A torture was organized to torture us like in colonial times,” Lona said.
The Bar Association and the Guinea Human Rights League, which assisted the activists, promise to collect “all evidence of torture” and file criminal complaints with national and international judicial authorities.
“Torture of a prisoner or detainee is a crime,” stressed lawyer and president of the Guinean League for Human Rights Boubacar Toure.
Armando Lona used the press conference to clarify that the Popular Front “does not act at the behest of anyone or any political party” and confirmed that the organization “raised its voice against the state of affairs” in Guinea-Bissau.
The activist argues that Guinea-Bissau “cannot continue to be divided into islands,” where, according to him, citizens and politicians “don’t talk about what matters most.”
Armando Lona said that citizens mobilizing around the Popular Front are aware that “it will not be angels who will lead Guinea-Bissau out of the sad situation in which it finds itself.”
“It is not normal that our subregion continues to have the worst schools, it is not normal that 99% of the roads in Guinea-Bissau are impassable, it is not normal that we continue to export patients” to other countries. countries, Lona noted.
To change this state of affairs and “save the Republic,” Armando Lona announced that the Popular Front would announce new forms of struggle in the near future.
“We are determined to save the Republic of Guinea-Bissau this Tuesday and forever, so that it can become a model for the whole world,” stressed the leader of the Popular Front.
Lusa tried unsuccessfully to get a reaction from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Public Order.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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