To: IFEX Autolist (other news of interest)
From: Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI), [email protected]

2/02/2005

RE: FXI welcomes prosecution of policeman in Landless Peoples' Movement
torture case

The Freedom of Expression Institute welcomes the progress made by the
Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) and the Director of Public
Prosecutions (DPP) made with respect to the investigation of complaints of
assault and torture by three activists of the Landless Peoples' Movement
(LPM) on the 15 April 2004. As a result of investigations by the ICD, the
DPP has charged one police officer, and others may also be prosecuted in due
course. The FXI and LPM held a joint press conference on the 30 April 2004
to publicise these events, and the FXI is heartened to note that public
exposure combined with sustained pressure from social movements and
international human rights organizations have led to a prosecution being
made.

At the time of the press conference, the FXI pointed out that the incident
was unprecedented in democratic South Africa, as political activists claimed
torture on the basis of their political beliefs and actions. While these
allegations were met with skepticism and even disbelief in some quarters,
the LPM activists are being vindicated by recent developments in the case.
This incident shows that members of the police are willing to resort to
apartheid-era violence against political activists and critics of government
policy (in this case, the government's painfully slow land reform policy).
If such actions were to become the norm and go unpunished, then free
political activity in South Africa would gradually become impossible.

However, the FXI is disappointed with the length of time the investigation
has taken. While the LPM members alleged that there were many police
involved, and one of them was named in a statement to the ICD after the
incident, only one policeman has been prosecuted nine months later. We also
note the fact that the ICD was not successful in organizing a line up of
police officers for the LPM members to identify their assailants, and that
these actions could have resulted in speedier and more comprehensive action
on the case.

The three LPM activists who alleged the assault and torture were part of a
group of LPM members that were arrested as they attempted to hold a
demonstration on the day of South Africa's national elections, and charged
with contravening the Electoral Act (No. 73 of 1998).

The LPM members subsequently alleged that police officers subjected them to
acts of physical and psychological violence including assaults, the lobbying
of tear gas canisters into the closed vans transporting them to the police
cells, and verbal abuse. They also stated that at around midnight of the

same day while they were in police custody, members of the Crime
Intelligence Unit took three of them away from their cells, and repeatedly
tortured two of them using physical blows, strangulation and suffocation.
They alleged the torture took place during an interrogation where police
officers questioned them about the LPM, its sources of funding, its leaders
and objectives. They further alleged that the police officers forced rubber
tubes over their mouths several times, leading to them blacking out, and
warned them against being seen in any informal settlements as the police
'knew where they lived'.

The ICD apparently completed their investigations on 29 September 2004, and
recommended to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) that a police
officer be charged with assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm,
assault common and intimidation, and that he be subject to disciplinary
proceedings by the management of the South African Police Services (SAPS).
On Tuesday, 25 January 2005, the DPP decided to prosecute the police officer
on two counts of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm and one
count of assault common. He appeared in the Protea North Magistrate's Court
on the 28 January. According to the ICD, other members of the SAPS may be
prosecuted in due course.

**The information contained in this autolist item is the sole responsibility
of FXI**