VIII. ARBITRARY ARRESTS AND EXTRAJUDICIAL KILLINGS OF RDR ACTIVISTS AND SUPPORTERS

Those connected with the RDR, whether leading figures or ordinary members, have been singled out for particularly harsh treatment. When asked directly by a Le Monde journalist on October 13, President Gbagbo stated that he did not think Alassane Ouattara was involved in the "coup attempt."⁴⁰ However, public opinion seems to see little difference between the RDR and those responsible for the attacks. The widely broadcast inflammatory statement by parliamentarian Ben Soumahoro (see above) only served to increase the divisions within society and the public perception that RDR members are legitimate targets.

One RDR activist told Human Rights Watch:

On September 27, my car was followed... The next day, the RDR office was ransacked. Since that day, it has been closed and all our members are afraid. The doors were completely broken down. Since then all activists have been in hiding... On September 19 already some ten RDR activists were arrested. One RDR activist was arrested at his work on September 24, he was held for forty-eight hours and accused of having sheltered "assailants." He was tortured, but then released. Others have disappeared.⁴¹

Human Rights Watch is concerned that whatever the political links may be, people should only be arrested and detained if there is reason to suspect involvement in criminal activity. In such cases, the suspect has the right not to be held beyond the legal time limits and to be protected from torture or any form of ill-treatment. In the cases listed below, there has been no allegation of any involvement in criminal activity.

Many have been arrested after being denounced. They are usually asked questions about what they think of the situation, whether they know Alassane Ouattara, whether he financed or organized the "coup," and about whether they have been sheltering "assailants." Most have been freed after a couple of days in custody at the various gendarmerie "Brigades de Recherches" (investigation branch). Some have been charged with state security offences. Others seem to have been arrested yet their relatives have had no news of them since their arrest and have been unable to trace them. For example, on October 30, Professor Samuel Gadégbéku, a physician, was arrested in the Cocody district of Abidjan at the hospital while he was seeing patients. He was taken away by two armed and uniformed police officers and a man in civilian clothes. No explanation was given. He is national membership secretary (secrétaire national à la solidarité) for the RDR.

On October 12, Adama Cissé, RDR representative (commissaire politique) in M'Bahiakro, a town to the east of Bouaké, died shortly after he had been arrested by gendarmes. His son was taken to hospital in need of medical treatment. A witness explained to a journalist what happened:

They first came to search Adama Cissé's house (on October 11) because they were looking for Fanny Ibrahima who is the RDR mayor of Bouaké and a friend of Mr. Cissé. These soldiers were also looking for arms. After searching his house and finding nothing, the soldiers started beating Mr. Cissé, while demanding to know the whereabouts of his deputy, Mr. Moussouaré. Then the loyalists took the local representative of Mr. Ouattara's party with them to their camp at Yrakro. It was there that the torture increased, according to our source. At 6:30 p.m., after the political authorities had intervened, Adama Cissé and his son, Abou Cissé-who had meanwhile been picked up and beaten-were released.⁴²

In the early hours of the following morning, Adama Cissé died; his son was receiving medical treatment for the injuries he had sustained.

On October 18, two men were killed while burying a relative at the Williamsville cemetery in Abidjan. Seydou Coulibaly and Lanzeni Coulibaly were both cousins of Amadou Gon Coulibaly, a RDR senior official. The attack was reportedly carried out by armed gendarmes travelling in an unmarked 4x4 vehicle; they reportedly indicated that the life of another relative, Amadou Coulibaly-the party's communications secretary-was under threat, before killing the two men. The government has claimed that individuals acting on their own initiative carried out the attack.⁴³

This incident clearly shows that RDR figures are in grave danger. It is the Ivorian government's responsibility to ensure protection for all civilians, regardless of their origin or opinions.

40 Interview conducted by Le Monde (Paris) on October 13, 2002, and reproduced in 24 Heures, October 15, 2002.

41 Human Rights Watch interview with RDR activist, Abidjan, October 10, 2002.

42 Inteview quoted in Le Patriote (Abidjan), October 14, 2002

43 Human Rights Watch telephone interview, October 21, 2002.