Burkina troops tried for arms depot raid claim tortured
Some 20 Burkinabe soldiers on trial at a military tribunal over a failed raid on an arms depot last year have said they were tortured to extract their confessions.
Almost all of them said they had suffered beatings, humiliation and food deprivation at the police camp where they were held after their arrest following the raid in January 2016, for which they have been on trial since on Tuesday.
“When I was arrested on January 25, 2016, I was abused by police officers from 14:00 to 16:00”, Sergeant Ollo Stanislas Poda said on Saturday.
“I was beaten with a wet rope, threatened with an (automatic pistol), handcuffed and suspended from a table to make me talk,”
Like him, most of the soldiers being prosecuted for “military conspiracy” said they had been physically abused and subjected to inhumane treatment. source: news 24
