Imo killings: Rights group calls for international criminal inquiries

Forum 10 months ago

Imo killings: Rights group calls for international criminal inquiries

A human rights group, International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, Intersociety has expressed deep concern over the killings that have been going on in Imo State for over one year and strongly called for international criminal inquiries to unravel what is happening in the state.

Intersociety said there was need “to inquire into the gruesome killings of unarmed civilians and the burning down of peoples’ houses in the guise of fighting criminal elements” in Imo state, pointing out that the criminal inquiries became extremely necessary for purposes of unmasking the real identities of those behind the atrocities.

The group lamented the frequency at which people were being “killed, abducted, disappeared, arbitrarily arrested/detained and tortured” in Imo State and by extension the South East region.

Releasing a report of its investigation and research on the killing in Imo State, the Chairman of Intersociety, Comrade Emeka Umeagbalasi alleged that “no fewer than 1600 unarmed citizens of Imo State have been killed while 300 others disappeared without trace between January 2021 and May 2023, a period of 29 months”.

According to Umeagbalasi, the group’s investigation showed that “over 700 persons also sustained life-threatening injuries with over 900 others abducted within the same period under review”.

Quoting from the 33-page document entitled “Special Research and Investigative Report”, which he presented to journalists in Enugu; Umeagbalasi explained that “state and non-state actors were responsible for the Imo killings” and stressed the need to fish them out.

According to him, “state actors accounted for the death of 900 out of the 1600 unarmed persons killed in the state while the other 700 were killed by armed non-state actors within the period under review”.

He said the group’s investigation indicates that “600 out of the 900 were secretly killed by state actors while 300 died in open shootings”.

He said their investigation further revealed that “400 out of the 700 killed by armed non-state actors died in captivity while 300 others were killed in open shootings”.

Umeagbalasi noted that within the period under focus, “3500 young people were arrested by state actors with about 1400 of them paying through their noses to secure their freedom while over 1500 of them are still being detained in various detention facilities within and outside the state”.

Also, according to the group, “about 1,200 houses were burnt with their 30, 000 dwellers displaced while 500,000 citizens of the state in active age-brackets were forced to flee to escape being shot and killed or abducted”.

Umeagbalasi listed the affected local government areas to include Orsu, Orlu, Oru East, Oru West, Mbaitoli, Ngor Okpala, Oguta, Ohaji/Egbema, Okigwe, Ideato North, Ideato South, Njaba, Isu, Nwangele, Nkwerre, Owerri Municipal, OtHe werri North, Owerri West, Ahiazu Mbaise, Ezinihitte Mbaise and Onuimo.

He said that on account of the killings and insecurity created, families in the affected areas no longer conduct funeral ceremonies in the state but prefer to hold them outside for fear of the attacks and killings.

To get the root of the insecurity crisis in Imo, Intersociety therefore called on the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to urgently initiate international criminal inquiries into the killings in the state and unmask the identities of the perpetrators of the acts.

“Apart from criminal inquiries, indictments and prosecutions being demanded, the leading perpetrators shall be placed on visa bans and barred from all forms of international career, professional and private engagements especially in USA, Canada, Australia, UK, EU, France, Germany, and South-East Asia and so on; for their involvement in grisly and egregious rights abuses and violations in Imo State in particular and the Southeast in general”, the group suggested.