Yet another Jumma tortured to death in Belaichari

chtnews.com
News No. 127/2008, July 11, 2008

Another Jumma villager was reported to have been tortured to death in Belaichari under Rangamati district on 9 July.

This comes two days after the death of Niranjan Chakma on 7 July in military custody in the same area.

Reports reaching from the area said a group of military personnel from Digholchari zone located at Belaichari Upazila (sub-district) town on 8 July raided the village of Mashkaba Chara. The village is about 3 miles south of the Upazila headquarters.

The soldiers severely tortured three innocent people in the village before going back to their camp. The identity of the victims could not be known.

After the army personnel had left, the villagers took the torture victims to Belaicahri Upazila Health Complex Hospital in serious conditions. But the hospital authorities refused to admit them on the ground that they lacked adequate treatment facilities.

Instead, the hospital authorities referred the victims to Chandraghona Hospital, where one of them died the following day, ie, 9 July. Chandraghona is two and a half hours journey - half by launch and half by bus - from Belaichari via Kaptai.

His dead body was brought back to the village on 10 July. The other two victims are reportedly still in deep coma.

Latest information gleaned from the area said after the death of one of the victims the military seized the other two victims in the hospital and are denying their relatives access to them.