Togo: Excessive use of force and death in custody

On 10 May 2013, similar lack of access to health care caused the death of Etienne Yakanou Kodjo, a member of the opposition party, the National Alliance for Change, who was detained in the capital, Lome, relating to the case of the fires which destroyed the Kara market and the main building of Lome’s principal market, on 3 and 12 January 2013. [...] While the detainee’s relatives say they asked the Prosecutor, as of 6 May 2013, for Etienne Yakanou Kodjo to be seen by a doctor, the detainee had to wait another five days before being sent to the medical centre of the Camp of the National Gendarmerie where he was held. [...] In a press statement dated of 11 May 2013, the Prosecutor gave a very different version of the facts, and affirmed that the detainee did receive an appropriate treatment following a malaria crisis. [...] The Prosecutor also stated that the detainee arrived alive at the hospital and that ‘his death occurred before he was taken care of’. [...] Amnesty International (AI) is also concerned by the health of other detainees, including Mohamed Loud, currently held at the Lome’s prison, also for the case of the January 2013 fires.