Press Release/02/02/2017/CRACPE
A man from Azerbaijan, retained at the closed centre in Vottem, was found dead this morning.
According to the information available, he arrived to Vottem three days ago from another closed centre. Two days ago he had tried to mutilate himself because he couldn’t stand his retention. The reaction to this distress situation, although he was wounded, was to place him in a confinement cell. It is there that he was found dead this morning.
What happened in that cell? We ignore it. The prosecutors are there. What we do know is that confinement cells are like a prison within the prison, complete isolation, inhumane treatment. It can prevent a call for assistance, no matter the cause, to be heard and taken into consideration.
We want to recall what the closed centres for foreigners are; deportation machines. In order to prepare these deportations, the resistance by the retainees has to be broken through imprisonment, through psychological torture, and if it doesn’t work, they do not hesitate to resort to segregation. This segregation sometimes is prolonged for weeks, in a wing they call ‘special’, at the closed centre for foreigners in Vottem. On several occasions we denounced the segregation of ‘rebels’; those who simply refuse any illegal retention, but also those who would actually need a medical or psychological monitoring rather than being treated that way.
Here are the concrete results of the politics implemented by Theo Francken which consists in closing borders and in deporting 1000 additional people each year while increasing retentions! Soon it will be children whom he will have retained again in closed centres… and who will in turn be victims of mistreatments!
The CRACPE will be present this Saturday, like every week, around the closed centre of Vottem as of 4 p.m. and they are calling for a big gathering in order to denounce the unacceptable!
Words from the closed centre Vottem
Paroles de détenus à Vottem ce jour :
« Il faut faire quelques chose Madame avec vos politiques de merde »
« Un homme a perdu sa vie avec vos politiques de merde madame »
« On est pas des animaux Madame »
« Ils vont continuer à tuer comme ça ? »
« Vous allez bouger quand vous les Belges ? Combien de morts faudra-t-il ? »
« Ici ce matin les gardiens mettent la musique à fond et essaient de nous distraire. Ils ne respectent rien madame ,même pas les morts »
