In what seemed like an action movie, a total of 33 Congolese detainees managed to escape from a prosecutor’s cell near the Idiofa peace court early on Friday March 15.
The escape occurred at 11 p.m Thursday night through early Friday, indicates local civil society. All 33 detainees and the police officer on duty fled, the cell remained empty. Among the escapees, there are 32 men and one woman.
According to Jean-Marie Bell, the president of civil society, these detainees came out in two groups.
The first one made a hole in the ceiling. After climbing the walls, they walked to freedom again.
The second exited through the central door where the police officers on duty are supposed to be. Among the damage, a judicial police officer was beaten by the escapees for trying to stop one of their own.
“The first group climbed through the roof. They made holes in the triplexes. They climbed the walls and went out towards the court of peace. The second group exited through the central door.”
“However, the latter is well closed with the police officers. But this police officer too, we didn’t see him. Not even his weapon. He fled. The APJ had noticed the escape, he arrived towards the door, he grabbed someone who wanted to escape but run away. As he had shouted, the others came to their comrade’s aid and began to hit the APJ, he let go of him” declared Jean-Marie Bell’s.
This escape is, according to civil society, testament to the horrible conditions in DRC’s prisons.
The inhumane conditions of detention and prolonged detention without trial for years pushed these detainees to the limit, whose hopes of being brought before the judge vanished following the failure of the magistrates at the peace court.
“The reception conditions for the detainees are not good. It’s very dirty inside, you can’t stick your nose in there. There are people who arrived there, they did five, two years, three years, without going before the council chamber to know their fate. Because there is only one magistrate in court,” he said.
On March 7, an escape attempt was foiled in this dungeon. Indeed, four detainees, who had not yet been tried for several months, perforated the ceiling of the dungeon in order to escape.
It was thanks to the denunciation made by another detainee that the police on duty stopped this attempt.