On 25 February 2019, the organisation issued a press release pointing to the lack of resources allocated to the health centre and the low pay for public employees.
The organisation highlights the corrupt justice system where inmates pay to avoid pre-trial detention: Of the nearly 8,000 inmates in Makala prison, hardly more than 1,000 have been officially tried and sentenced.
The foundation has drawn up a list of short and long-term recommendations, summarised as follows:
- The Minister of Human Rights must intervene to assure that the rights of the prisoners and the prison officers are respected
- The President of the Republic, Tshisekedi Tshilombo, must renovate all Congolese prisons and fulfill all his campaign promises
- He must put in place the 2014 General Assembly of the Judiciary
- The Ministers of Justice and Health must do everything in their power to make the health of inmates and prison officers a priority
- Effect a clear separation of condemned inmates from those being held in pretrial detention
- Improve the living conditions of prisoners
- speed up legal proceedings
- set a standard figure for bail to be paid in lieu of pretrial detention
More generally, the foundation calls for consistent application of procedures and laws. They conclude, “We battle daily to see that perpetrators of secret dungeons, arbitrary arrests, summary executions, arbitrary detentions, kidnappings, unlawful imprisonment, physical and moral torture, and perpetrators of crimes both serious and against humanity, be brought before national and international courts without discrimination.”
Translated by: Kelly Field
Edited by: Lynn Palermo
