NIGERIA NO JUSTICE FOR THE DEAD

NIGERIANO JUSTICE FOR THE DEAD

Victims’ families rarely receive justice.Proper autopsies and inquests are eithernot carried out or are inadequate, or theresults are not publicly accessible. Relativesare often left with no answers about the fateof their family members, despite theexistence of Nigerian laws and internationalstandards requiring investigations of suchdeaths and prosecution of suspectedperpetrators where deaths have beenunlawful.

In 2009 Amnesty International publisheda report documenting extrajudicialexecutions and other unlawful killings bypolice in Nigeria. This report revealed apattern of police killing of hundreds ofpeople every year. It found that manyvictims were unlawfully killed before orduring arrest, while others were tortured to death in police detention. A largeproportion of unlawful killings may haveconstituted extrajudicial executions. Insome cases, people disappeared afterbeing taken into police custody. AmnestyInternational’s investigation found that thepolice acted with almost total impunity:killings by police and deaths in policecustody were not investigated and therewas almost no action to hold police officersto account.

In the three years since that reportappeared, unlawful police killings havecontinued virtually unchecked and withwholly ineffective investigations, accordingto Nigerian NGOs such as the LegalDefence and Assistance Project. Although

some killings have been investigated andsome police have been prosecuted, the vastmajority are not the subject of adequateinquiry.

Effective and impartial investigation iscrucial in establishing the truth abouthuman rights violations, includingextrajudicial executions, and gatheringevidence to hold perpetrators to account.

The death of anyone in police custody – orotherwise at the hands of the police – is aserious matter meriting an inquiry whosegoal should be to identify the body anddetermine the cause and circumstances ofdeath. It should include an adequateautopsy, as set out in the UN Principles on the Effective Prevention and Investigationof Extra-legal, Arbitrary and SummaryExecutions (see box, right). There isprovision in Nigerian law for suchinvestigations under the various stateCoroners’ Laws, but most of these laws are outdated and are not effectivelyimplemented. In practice, investigations intoviolent deaths are rare.

The lack of investigation in Nigeria meansthat many of the police officers who appearto have used unlawful lethal force enjoyimpunity, seriously undermining humanrights protections.

Amnesty International February 2013 Index: AFR 44/001/2013

The Nigerian justice system fails to adequately investigatefatal police shootings which, every year, leave families andcommunities suffering anguish and bereavement.

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“There shall be thorough, prompt andimpartial investigation of all suspected casesof extra-legal, arbitrary and summaryexecutions, including cases where complaintsby relatives or other reliable reports suggestunnatural death... The purpose of theinvestigation shall be to determine thecause, manner and time of death, theperson responsible, and any pattern orpractice which may have brought about thatdeath. It shall include an adequate autopsy,collection and analysis of all physical anddocumentary evidence and statements fromwitnesses. The investigation shalldistinguish between natural death,accidental death, suicide and homicide.”UN Principles on the Effective Prevention andInvestigation of Extra-legal, Arbitrary and SummaryExecutions, Principle 9

This briefing examines the lack ofaccountability of police in Rivers State for the excessive, disproportionate andunnecessary use of lethal force and the lackof adequate investigation under the RiversState Coroners’ Law. It is based oninterviews with lawyers, doctors, policeofficers, families of people killed by police,and NGOs. It describes the poor conditionsof the main mortuary in the state capital,Port Harcourt, and argues for the need foradequate autopsies and identification ofvictims in all cases of violent death. AmnestyInternational believes that Rivers State isrepresentative of other Nigerian states whereviolent deaths are inadequately investigated.Amnesty International’s recommendationsare relevant beyond Rivers State alone.

NIGERIA: NO JUSTICE FOR THE DEAD

Index: AFR 44/001/2013 Amnesty International February 2013

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Above: Abonnema Wharf, Port Harcourt, one of

the communities where unlawful killings by the

police are alleged to have taken place. The photo

was taken in April 2011, before the buildings

were demolished and the community broken up

in mid-2012.

Cover: The new mortuary, Port Harcourt,

Nigeria, July 2012. © Private

INVESTIGATING DEATHS: GOODPRACTICE

The investigation of an unnatural orunexpected death seeks to clarify the: identity of the deceased circumstances which led to the death medical cause of the death andcontributory factors manner of the death (whether accident,natural death, suicide or homicide) lawfulness of the death responsibility (who caused or contributedto the death, if anyone)

Investigation of unnatural death isimportant in ensuring the rule of law. In thecase of deaths of people in police custody orotherwise apparently at the hands of police,an inquiry should be obligatory, including anadequate post-mortem examination. Thisinvolves a careful external examination ofthe body and clothing, and dissection of thebody. Photographs of the body should alwaysbe taken, and X-ray images in cases ofdeath by shooting. Post-mortemexaminations should be carried out by, orunder the supervision of, a qualifiedpathologist before embalming since thisprocedure has a significant effect on thebody and may destroy evidence.



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BLESSING MONDAY – “YOU SHOT THEWRONG ONE”

Blessing Monday, aged 16, was one of a numberof street children living around the Abali ParkFlyover in Port Harcourt. On 8 April 2012, BlessingMonday was helping a trader when police arrivedin response to a report of the theft of a bag. Someof the children immediately ran away. BlessingMonday hid behind a bus. According to witnessesinterviewed by Amnesty International, when thepolice asked him to come out, he started to runaway and did not stop when the police called.They shot him as he fled.

Witnesses saw a police officer kick the woundedboy as he lay on the ground, telling him to getup. They said that he replied, in obvious pain: “Iam dying.”

Another police officer brought the traderwhose bag had been stolen to where Blessinglay. He was heard to say that they had thewrong boy. The officer kicked Blessing againand then left for the police station with thetrader, leaving the gravely wounded boy on the ground.

The other children put their friend into a barrowand took him to the nearby Teme Clinic. Shortlyafter they arrived, a nurse told them thatBlessing Monday had died and asked them toremove the body. The children took him back to the place where he had been shot.

The police returned later that day and took thebody away. Blessing Monday’s friends were angry

at his death and threw stones at the police, whosubsequently came back and arrested 10 of them.The boys were asked to pay money for theirrelease; five could pay and were released, theother five were charged with assault. (They werelater released after intervention by the NGO,Human Rights, Social Development andEnvironmental Foundation, HURSDEF.)

Witnesses to the shooting told AmnestyInternational that they had not been interviewedby police and that they did not know where thebody was. This reflects a lack of commitment toinvestigating the shooting and to ensuring thatall relevant evidence is available to an inquiryinto the death.

The use of lethal force by the police againstBlessing Monday – where there was no threatto life by the suspect – was in breach of

Nigeria’s obligations to protect the right to lifeand incompatible with international policingstandards which require proportional use offorce and assistance to those injured duringpolice operations. Amnesty International isdeeply concerned by the lack of a publicinquiry into the killing as required underparagraph 2 of the Rivers State Coroners’ Law

Nigeria’s Constitution and the Nigeria PoliceForce Order 237 (Rules for guidance in useof firearms by the police) provide muchbroader grounds for the use of lethal forcethan is permissible under international lawand standards. Police Force Order 237permits police officers to shoot suspects and detainees who attempt to escape oravoid arrest, “provided the offence is suchthat the accused may be punished withdeath or imprisonment for seven years ormore.” Escaping custody or resisting arrestis punishable with seven years’imprisonment under Nigerian legislation. As such, Police Force Order 237 allows policeofficers to shoot with impunity anyone tryingto flee.

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(Cap. 34). No police officer is known to havebeen subject to investigation concerning thedeath. Blessing Monday’s body is believed to bestill in the mortuary at the BraithwaiteMemorial Specialist Hospital in Port Harcourt.

Above: The flyover near Mile One market, Port

Harcourt, is one of the locations where street

children sleep at night. The children are forced

to pay money to the police who regularly visit

the area at night and threaten to arrest them if

they do not pay.



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SHOOTING OF GOODLUCK AGBARIBOTE, AGED 26

According to eyewitnesses, Goodluck Agbaribotehad gone to bathe at a communal well atAbonnema Wharf waterfront community on theafternoon of 24 May 2012. At around that time,armed officers from the Special Anti-RobberySquad (SARS) entered Abonnema Wharf. Theycame upon the men at the well and shot deadGoodluck Agbaribote – without warning,according to witnesses interviewed by the NGOHURSDEF. A friend of Goodluck’s fled, with policeshooting at him as he ran.

When Goodluck failed to return home, aneighbour suggested to his wife Dinah that shego to Mile One Police Station to see if he wasamong several men arrested that afternoon.After a fruitless visit she returned to thecommunity, where someone suggested she goto Braithwaite Memorial Specialist Hospital.

Dinah and her sister-in-law were told at thehospital that although some men who had beenshot were there, her husband was not amongthem, and she should check the mortuary. WhenDinah arrived and said she was the wife of amissing man, staff opened the mortuary; thereshe found her husband’s body lying on the floor,tagged as “unknown”. Families told AmnestyInternational that bodies brought to themortuary and marked “unknown” are usuallyconsidered to be criminals or armed robbers byhospital staff and police. Dinah was extremelyupset that her husband’s body had been left onthe floor, and pleaded with the mortuary staff toclean him before she left for home.

The police version of events given torepresentatives of the family is that officerswere chasing armed robbers who had shot atthem and they had returned fire.

In September 2012, despite a previousagreement made between the Commissioner ofPolice and representatives of the family that thebody should be released, the State CriminalInvestigation Department told them thatGoodluck Agbaribote was a suspected armedrobber and that his body had to be retainedpending investigations. No further explanationwas given.

After the intervention of HURSDEF, the policeagreed to release Goodluck Agbaribote’s body inOctober 2012.

Above: Bodies piled on top of each other in the

old mortuary at Braithwaite Memorial Specialist

Hospital, Port Harcourt, 2012. This mortuary

was closed for new admissions in July 2012

when the new one was opened.

Left: Dinah, wife of Goodluck Agbaribote, with

one of their children. Goodluck Agbaribote was

shot dead by police in May 2012.

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INVESTIGATING DEATHS According to the Rivers State Coroners’ Law,whenever “any prisoner, or person in policecustody, shall die from any causewhatsoever, a coroner... shall hold aninquest.” (Coroners’ Law, Article 4). Equally,any death arising from “violent or unnatural”causes must be the subject of an inquest“as soon as practicable” (Article 2). Shouldthe coroner learn that there is sufficientevidence to merit a criminal investigation,he or she must ask the police to investigate.Although competent autopsies are importantto any inquest, autopsies in Rivers State andin most of Nigeria are not usually carried outby qualified forensic pathologists. TheCoroners’ Law in Rivers State requires the involvement of a “Government medicalofficer or... any other medical practitioner”

(but not necessarily a qualified pathologist,let alone a forensic pathologist) to make anexamination of the body.

A magistrate in Port Harcourt told AmnestyInternational that the Coroners’ Lawrequired immediate medical examination ofthe body before embalming. However, inpractice, bodies are taken by police to themortuary at the Braithwaite MemorialSpecialist Hospital where they are promptlyembalmed, according to hospital staff. Thisresults in additional incisions in the bodywhere preservation fluids are administered,makes the dissection of the body moredifficult, and requires staff to work in anatmosphere affected by chemicals. It iswidely recommended by internationalforensic experts that autopsies should take

place before embalming and should becarried out or supervised by a qualifiedforensic pathologist. There are no suchpathologists in Rivers State.

According to hospital staff, about 200-250autopsies are carried out at the BraithwaiteMemorial Specialist Hospital each year.

In addition to the inquiry into the deathitself, there may be a need for a policeinvestigation to identify responsibility forthe death and prosecution of the accusedwhere the death was unlawful. Part of thisinvestigation will require protecting andphotographing the crime scene,documenting the body in situ and collectingevidence.


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POOR CORONIAL AND MEDICO-LEGAL INVESTIGATIONSThere are many obstacles to obtainingjustice through proper coronial and medico-legal investigations in Nigeria, such as alack of systematic forensic investigation andan absence of related criminal investigationresources such as a fingerprint database.Crime scenes are often not secured to alloweffective investigation and there are nomechanisms for scientific investigation ofrelevant evidence in Rivers State. Medicaland legal sources told Amnesty Internationalthat there is a practice of doctors signingdeath investigation reports without examiningthe body properly – part of a pattern ofcorruption and bribery which is pervasivein the criminal justice system in Nigeria.

When police shoot a person dead in thecourse of an operation, the body is usuallytaken to the mortuary and registered inthe entry book with the name of thedeceased (if known), other relevant details,and the signature of the police officerbringing the body. In many cases, theidentity of the deceased is not known tothe police and bodies are registered as“unknown”. In some cases the detention



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FOUR MEN KILLED IN POLICE CUSTODY

On 4 July 2008 armed police conducted a seriesof arrests in Abonnema Wharf waterfrontcommunity in Port Harcourt. Among those takento Mile One Police Station was Godgift FergusonEkerete, aged 24. According to witnessaccounts, Godgift and three of those arrestedwere shot and killed in the police station thatday. After spending up to a month in policecustody, those who survived the shooting weresubsequently charged with robbery andremanded in prison.

When Godgift’s mother, Ala Ekerete, arrived atthe police station later that day she learned thatGodgift had been killed. Ala and her husband,Easter Ekerete, subsequently spent days visitinghospitals looking for their son. After a familyfriend advised them to check the mortuary atBraithwaite Memorial Specialist Hospital, theyfound the bodies of the four young men there,including their son, and confirmed theiridentities. Ala and Easter asked the RiversState Commissioner of Police, through a lawyer,to release their son’s body from the mortuary.Their request met with no response. Theysubsequently went to see the Commissioner,again with no result. They regularly visited themortuary to see their son’s remains until 2010.

In 2010, the Rivers State Director of PublicProsecutions ordered the release of GodgiftEkerete’s body, which was being kept at themortuary on police instruction. Subsequently,HURSDEF asked for the body on behalf of theEkerete family. However, the mortuary staff saidthey could not find it. On learning in 2011 of aplanned mass burial of bodies held in themortuary and concerned that the bodies ofvictims of police violence may be disposed of unlawfully, Amnesty International wrote to thehospital in May 2011; the projected mass burialwas stopped. Meanwhile, Godgift Ekerete’s bodyis still unaccounted for.

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Top: Easter and Ala Ekerete whose son,

Godgift, together with three other men, was

shot dead by police in the Mile One Police

Station in Port Harcourt in July 2008. There

has been no proper investigation into the

deaths.

Above: Godgift Ekerete

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or death of a detainee is not acknowledgedby the police and the body never reachesthe mortuary. The Coroner should beinformed by the police using Form B of theCoroners’ Law and the Coroner can issue anorder for a post-mortem examination usingForm C of the Coroners’ Law; theseprocedures are not always followed,according to NGOs. Despite the provision inlaw for the release of bodies after dueinvestigations, Amnesty International foundthat the police can and do block therelease of bodies to families for burial.

From a variety of sources, AmnestyInternational has built up a picture ofpractices at the “old” mortuary attached tothe Braithwaite Memorial Specialist Hospitalin Port Harcourt which was closed to newcases in July 2012. The cases examined byAmnesty International in this briefing werehandled by the old mortuary at BraithwaiteMemorial Specialist Hospital. Based onreports from a number of sources, AmnestyInternational fears that other mortuaries inthe country also operate similar practices.

The hospital mortuary was overcrowdedwith bodies dumped in a pile on the

veranda or on benches, suggesting thatthere was little respect for the dead, andcausing distress to visiting family members.In the largest storage area, bodies werestacked on shelves awaiting disposal.

This mortuary lacked many importantfacilities, including capacity for refrigeratedstorage. This meant that bodies wereroutinely subjected to preservation methodsbefore autopsy. It also lacked a self-contained autopsy room, thus failing toprovide adequate levels of security, safetyand privacy. Autopsies were carried outon a single table in a roofed but open area.Procedures for DNA analysis, histology,toxicology, radiology and trace evidencegathering were not available at the oldmortuary, although some were available inthe hospital. Protective equipment such asgloves and aprons were not available to staff.International good practice requires thatstaff handling human remains wearappropriate clothing and personal protectiveequipment to ensure their health and safety.

There was no obvious accommodation forvisiting family members to identify relatives.Family members spoke to Amnesty

International about seeing their relativesdumped on the floor or stored on a benchwith other bodies. There was one room fornight duty staff to sleep in; this led directlyto areas in which bodies were stored,imposing an unacceptable workingenvironment on staff.

The new mortuary, situated nearby, is apublic-private partnership between the stategovernment and a commercial funeralcompany, and according to press reportshas capacity for 800 corpses.

Building a new mortuary will not necessarilyimprove the practice of death investigation orensure the dignity of the dead. Mortuariesare not intended to be long-term storagefacilities, bur rather to allow for promptidentification and determination of cause ofdeath. When this has been established anda death certificate issued, bodies should bereturned to the families for burial.


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Above: Abonnema Wharf waterfront

community, Port Harcourt, Rivers State,

Nigeria. The photo was taken in April 2011,

before the buildings were demolished and

the community broken up in mid-2012.

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FAMILIES PREVENTED FROMBURYING THEIR DEADAmnesty International has receivedcomplaints from several families in RiversState whose relatives were killed by policeor had died in police custody. They saidthat autopsies had not been conducted orbodies released to the family in reasonabletime for burial. The families were left withno definitive account of the fate of theirrelative or of the police role in, andresponsibility for, the deaths.

The Rivers State Coroners’ Law allows acoroner to authorize the burial of a body “atany time after the body has been viewed”.This suggests that, provided an examinationof the body has been carried out and thedeath certified, the body should be released



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SHOOTING OF THOMAS MMABU NEELE AND OTHERS

In the early evening of 2 November 2011, officersof the Swift Operations Squad (SOS), a specialpolice squad, went to Abonnema Wharfwaterfront in Port Harcourt in connection with analleged crime. When they arrived, they openedfire and three young men were shot dead. GodwinEtete, aged 18, and Ubong Udoudo were killed infront of their neighbouring houses. According toeyewitnesses interviewed by the NGO HURSDEF,they were unarmed. Thomas Mmabu Neele, aged20, was hit seemingly by a stray bullet whiletaking a bath in his house nearby.

Pastor Ken Neele told Amnesty International thatwhen he heard about the shooting he went toseveral hospitals in search of his brother,Thomas, and finally found his body in themortuary of Braithwaite Memorial SpecialistHospital. The mortuary register recorded that itwas an “unknown corpse” brought in by a policeofficer attached to the SOS. Pastor Neele wasprofoundly distressed by the disrespectfulhandling of his brother’s body, which was lyingat the bottom of a pile of other bodies. Heunderstood that the label “unknown corpse”meant that the body would not be released andindeed he learned it was not possible for thefamily to take it.

A week after the shootings, representativesfrom HURSDEF and Amnesty International metwith the Rivers State Commissioner of Police,who promised to look into the deaths. More thana year on, the bodies have still not beenreleased, according to HURSDEF, and thefamilies remain unable to bury their relatives.

Above: Pastor Ken Neele, brother of Thomas

Mmabu Neele who was shot dead by police in

November 2011.

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to the family. This underlines the importanceof – at a minimum – implementing existingprocedures for investigation, including apublic inquest, and of carrying out post-mortem examinations by a forensicpathologist. Amnesty International believesthat there is a need to revise the currentCoroners’ Law to more effectively provide forfull public accountability in cases ofunexpected, unnatural or violent deaths,including where police are involved.

By comparison, the Coroners’ System Lawin Lagos State provides that bodies can bereleased for burial after an autopsy hasbeen completed and a cause of deathcertified as set out in the law. This processis carried out promptly after the death. (Seebox, right.)


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The most recent coroners’ law enacted inNigeria – the Lagos State Coroners’ SystemLaw of 2007 – provides for the creation of theOffice of Chief Coroner (a judge of the HighCourt) and for the appointment of DistrictCoroners as well as a Chief Medical Examiner(CME) and District Medical Examiners(appointed by the CME, who must havequalifications and experience in forensicpathology). The Law provides that a coronershall hold an inquest whenever he or she isinformed of a death in a number ofcircumstances, including a violent, unnaturalor other suspicious death or any occurring inpolice custody. The Chief Medical Examinershall, among other things, perform a post-mortem examination following a death inthese circumstances and “establish thecause and manner of death of any personwithin his District referred to him by an orderissued by the Coroner.”

The Medical Examiner is therefore requiredto determine not only the medical process bywhich death was caused, but also the mannerin which the death came about. In addition,the Medical Examiner shall “write detailedpost-mortem examination reports withformulation of conclusions, opinions ortestimony to be tendered as evidence duringinquest proceedings.”

In Lagos, there are a number of centres wherebodies are held prior to autopsy. In the LagosState University Teaching Hospital, forexample, which Amnesty International visited,the mortuary has refrigerated storagefacilities which hold up to 100 bodies; the

autopsy room has six tables, allowing morethan one autopsy to take place at the sametime. Elsewhere in Lagos, Mainland Hospitalcan store 52 bodies and has two autopsytables; Lagos Island General Hospital canhold 150 bodies and has four autopsy tables– and other hospitals within and outsideLagos have additional capacity. In all cases,the bodies are only preserved by embalmingafter the autopsy is completed – as specifiedby the Lagos Coroners’ System Law (Article16). At that point, bodies can be released tofamilies for burial. Thus, detailed informationabout the cause of death can be obtainedthrough an autopsy while minimizing anydelay in the transfer of the body to the familyfor burial.

The 2007 Law constitutes an important stepin death investigation in Nigeria. However,there is a need to strengthen the role offorensic pathology, including through effectivetraining to address current shortages offorensic specialists. The absence of a proper forensic laboratory in Lagos hindersinvestigation and there is a pressing need forsuch a laboratory to process forensic evidence.

Professor John Obafunwa (above) isresponsible, as Chief Medical Examiner forLagos, for ensuring that proper autopsies are carried out as part of any inquiry intounnatural death, as prescribed by Lagos statelaw. According to Professor Obafunwa, theCoroners’ Law raises public awareness of the need to investigate deaths, and inpractice it can provide answers to familiesand contribute to justice for victims.

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l Far left: Autopsy room at Lagos State University

Teaching Hospital. The facilities allow for

100 bodies to be stored and for up to six

autopsies to be conducted at any one time.

By contrast, the old mortuary in Port Harcourt

in Rivers State had one table and no

refrigerated storage capacity and still holds

hundreds of embalmed bodies.

Left: Professor John Obafunwa, Chief Medical

Examiner for Lagos.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE MEDICAL EXAMINER SYSTEM IN LAGOS STATE

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RECOMMENDATIONSThe State and Federal Governments must:

Give a clear and public statement that

police must be accountable, committed to

practice that conforms to international

standards and best practice, and are subject

to Nigerian law.

Ensure that each State Coroners’ law

requires and provides a mechanism for a

proper public investigation into every

unnatural, sudden or violent death, including

all deaths in custody. Investigations should

establish the identity of the deceased, the

cause and circumstances of the death and

should benefit from a proper post-mortem

examination of the body.

Establish an independent review

mechanism to investigate and examine

alleged police misconduct and complaints

regarding police practice, and particularly

use of lethal force.

Establish procedures for securing and

investigating crime scenes. These should

ensure the security of the crime scene, the

location, documentation and collection of all

relevant materials, their safe custody and,

where feasible, transfer to a forensic science

laboratory for investigation.

Ensure that police respond to orders given

by courts including requests to testify at

inquests and to account for the whereabouts

of any person previously in their custody.

Evaluate the operation of the 2007 Lagos

State Coroners’ System Law with

a view to revising the law and accelerating

reforms of practice in other states that

have outdated laws or laws that are not

implemented effectively.

Ensure that standards in mortuaries

conform to international professional

standards, and that staff are adequately

trained, remunerated and provided with

appropriate technology and safety clothing.

Accelerate moves for a national forensic

laboratory that can undertake scientific

investigations into a range of criminal

activities and can provide assistance to

coroners and medical examiners in death

investigations.

Repeal laws and regulations, such as

Police Force Order 237, which allow the

police to use lethal force against suspects,

protesters or detainees on grounds that they

are trying to escape from, or evade, lawful

custody, and bring practice into line with the

UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and

Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials. Any

use of lethal force should be proportionate

and a matter of last resort, and only when

strictly unavoidable to protect life.

Publish an annual register to report fully,

promptly and accurately on all deaths at the

hands of police.

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Amnesty International is a global movement of more than 3 millionsupporters, members and activists in more than 150 countries andterritories who campaign to end grave abuses of human rights.

Our vision is for every person to enjoy all the rights enshrined in theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights and other international humanrights standards.

We are independent of any government, political ideology, economic interestor religion and are funded mainly by our membership and public donations.

Index: AFR 44/001/2013English

February 2013

Amnesty InternationalInternational SecretariatPeter Benenson House1 Easton StreetLondon WC1X 0DWUnited Kingdom

amnesty.org

CONCLUSION ANDRECOMMENDATIONSThe government of Nigeria must take stepsto prevent deaths resulting from excessiveor unlawful use of force and firearms by thepolice; to investigate deaths where theyoccur, in line with internationally recognizedprocedures; and to ensure that appropriatedisciplinary measures are imposed wheremerited.

INVESTIGATE DEATHS

The government should ensure that allcomplaints and reports of police killingsare investigated promptly, impartially andeffectively by an independent body chargedwith examining the lawfulness of policeaction. All deaths in police custody or as a result of police action should normally be subject to a detailed post-mortem

examination. A coroner's court with thenecessary powers and resources shouldcarry out an investigation to identify thedeceased and inquire into the cause ofdeath. The inquest should have power torequire the attendance of witnesses,including police officers, and should haveaccess to autopsy findings.

Mortuaries must be required to meetminimum standards satisfying the needsof the justice system, the families of thedeceased and the mortuary staff. Staff mustbe adequately trained and provided withappropriate protective clothing during theirwork. Adequate storage facilities, staffing,equipment and space must be provided forpost-mortem examinations.

In cases of deaths resulting from policeaction, relatives of the victim should haveaccess to information relevant to the

investigation, should be entitled to requesta doctor or lawyer to represent them at anautopsy, and should be entitled to presentevidence to an inquiry.

A death certificate should be issued oncethe cause and manner of death have beendetermined following an appropriate post-mortem examination. Families should beable to bury their deceased relative oncethe certificate has been issued.

HOLDING THOSE GUILTY OF UNLAWFULKILLINGS TO ACCOUNT

Those accused of criminal acts should becharged and brought before a court wherethey should receive a fair trial andappropriate sentence if convicted, withoutrecourse to the death penalty.

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NIGERIA NO JUSTICE FOR THE DEAD