Togo: Impunity for killings by the military

Since 1990 there has been a dramatic increase in the scale of human rights violations, including extrajudicial execution, torture, deaths in custody, arbitrary arrest and detention without charge or trial of suspected government opponents, perpetrated by the security forces. Evidence suggests that they have repeatedly committed these abuses in the confidence that, while President Eyadema remains in power, they will not face prosecution. These feelings of impunity have been enforced by support from foreign governments, notably the authorities in France. This climate of impunity has continued in 1993 with an upsurge in the numbers of political killings, despite the supposed confinement of the military to barracks during the elections at the end of August 1993.

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