Human Rights Watch on Monday said a special anti-crime police unit in the Central African Republic (CAR) unlawfully killed no fewer than 18 people between April 2015 and March 2016.
According to the rights group, Robert Yekoua-Kette, the director of the Central Office for the Repression of Banditry, shot dead one of the victims and was directly implicated in 12 other cases.
“Residents saw him and his men kill people in broad daylight,’’ Africa researcher at HRW, Lewis Mudge, said.
Mudge said that Yekoua-Kette has since been removed from office.
In addition to the 18 documented executions, HRW received “credible information” about 12 other cases, including a 14-year-old boy who was reportedly shot dead after being accused of stealing.
According to the report, although some of the victims appear to have been implicated in criminal activity, the circumstances of their arrests or killings did not justify the use of lethal force.
Yekoua-Kette told the group that his men operated within the law.
CAR was plunged into lawlessness after mainly Muslim Seleka rebels overthrew Christian President Francois Bozize in March 2013.
Since a new government was elected in February, the situation in the poverty-stricken, landlocked nation has somewhat stabilised.
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