Côte d'Ivoire: Torture Scenes in the Most Populated Prison

This post is part of our special coverage Côte d'Ivoire Unrest 2011.

A video is currently creating a stir among the Ivorian online community. It shows militaries beating up prisoners in the  “Maison d'Arrêt et de Correction” prison (MACA). According to the person who posted the video, the prisoners are Alassane Ouattara‘s partisans. Since the beginning of the political crisis in Ivory Coast, dozens of people have been arrested in Abidjan for their political opinion, and jailed at the MACA.

The video shocked viewers. Traore Tidiane comments on Facebook [Fr] :

“Voila la bassesse du regime moribond de LG !!! qui dit kil veut pas la force?”

“Here is the lowness of the dying Gbagbo regime! Who said he doesn't want thr force?”

On December 10th, Jean-Paul Ney, a French journalist accused by Laurent Gbagbo of a coup attempt in December 2007, posted on his website “Les grandes oreilles“, a video shot in 2008 while he was detained at the MACA.
The video showed a mutinery of prisoners followed by inhumane torture acts inflicted by military forces.

On December 17th 2010, the day following the massacres that occured during a demonstration called by Ouattara's partisans in Abdijan, the same journalist on his twitter account was calling people to help prisoners of MACA:

“#civ2010: pour la MACA qui peut se mobiliser sur place et apporter de la nourriture ? Western Union impossible pour la RCI !

“#civ2010 for the MACA, who in Abidjan can rally to bring food to the prison? Western Union is impossible for the Repubic of Côte d'Ivoire!”

This post is part of our special coverage Côte d'Ivoire Unrest 2011.

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