One of the protesters in last week’s cost of living demonstrations has died while in the hands of the police in Karonga District.
In the past weeks, some Malawians took to the streets in the demonstrations organised by Bon Kalindo and others.
The deceased was among the 30 protesters arrested by Police on Tuesday night for suspecting them of breaking and looting shops after the demonstrations.
The suspect died in the early hours of yesterday, The Sunday Times has learnt.
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Northern Region Police Public Relations Officer, Maurice Chapola, said the suspect, Sam Mwenegamba, died while receiving treatment at Karonga District Hospital.
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processes of their travel to
Chitipa prison
Chapola said the 30 suspects were being held by the police after the court remanded them on Friday to pave way for further investigations.
They were charged with breaking into a building and looting property and also endangering lives of people travelling on roads.
“As we were finalising processes of their travel to Chitipa Prison, one of the suspects fell sick and we took him to Karonga District Hospital where he has died,” Chapola said.
He said Malawi Police Service has asked health experts to conduct a postmortem.
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For the sake of transparency, he said, Malawi Police Service has invited Malawi Human Rights Commission, Independent Complaints Commission and Human Rights Defenders Coalition to be available during the examination for the cause of Mwenegamba’s death.
Chairperson for HRDC Gif Trapence said they will need independent investigations on the death.
He recommended that Malawi Human Rights Commission conduct the probe.
“It is important to have the Malawi Human Rights Commission to investigate that death. Civil society organisation, including HRDC, will also monitor the investigations to make sure justice is served on the case,” Trapence said.
Speaking separately, one of the organisers of the Karonga protests, Lyton Mangochi, said it is unfortunate that the district has lost one citizen in the aftermath of the demonstrations.
“We observed that the riots started around 1:00 PM and this was after we peacefully parted ways with the police,” Mangochi said.
The deceased was coming from Kafikisira Village under Paramount Chief Kyungu in the district.
Kalindo and others have been organising protests against rising cost of living following the devaluation of the local currency by 44 percent recently.
In the week, the protests were also held in Mangochi and Mzuzu following similar protests in Zomba last week.
