Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders Annual Report 2004 - Guinea Bissau
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Date:
14 April 2005
Continued harassment of Mr. Joao Vaz Mane91
On 18 March 2004, Mr. Joao Vaz Mane, vice chairman of the Guinean Human Rights League (Liga Guineense dos Direitos Humanos – LGDH), was arrested while at the LGDH office, on the order of chief police commissioner Bitchofla Na Fafé, for denouncing a police misconduct that seriously wounded a young man, in an LGDH radio programme. Mr. Vaz Mane's clothes were ripped while he was being arrested.
A little later, the police took Mr. Mane to the site of a murder that had been committed the preceding evening and told the people there that he was guilty of the crime. Several people lunged forward to strike him, but then other people recognised him and stopped the lynching.
Mr. Mane was then taken to the central police station of the "Segunda Esquadra" where he was insulted and subjected to death threats for five hours before being released.
Mr. Joao Vaz Mane had already been arbitrarily arrested and detained in January 2003. In July 2003 he also had been threatened by Mr. Bitchofla Na Fafé, who publicly denigrated the activities of the LGDH and accused Mr. Vaz Mane of disseminating false information after he denounced the criminal behaviour of certain police officers.
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