'Police beat man to death'
2010-07-19 16:01
Dakar – Senegalese police beat to death a man who took part in a demonstration against frequent power cuts in a suburb of the capital Dakar, an African rights group said.
The African Encounter for the Defence of Human Rights (Raddho), based in Dakar, said in a statement on Sunday that Abdoulaye Wade Yinghou was "tortured to death by police" on July 14.
"For the moment, there's no reaction on the police side," a police spokesperson told AFP on Monday. "A statement will be released."
However, on July 15, after one of many protests against blackouts in the west African country, a police spokesperson said that when the police intervened, a young man "fell and banged his head somehow. The police are not at issue."
Raddho said it had investigated the young man's death and found that it was "caused by atrocious torture in beatings with clubs and rifle butts" on the evening of the July 14 demonstration.
The victim reportedly telephoned his employer, a poultry farmer, and said: "The police, the police, the police." The farmer went to the police station, but could not obtain any information.
The following morning, a police inspector told him the young man was dead, and asked questions about his health, because "according to police, he died after a malaise," Raddho said.
The rights body has asked for an independent judicial inquiry.
The incident came at a time of frequent public protests against power cuts in Dakar and other big towns.
The public anger has reached such a height that the national assembly will go into a special session on Tuesday to hear the government's statements on the energy crisis.
- SAPA