[TW self-harm, suicide]
Nine years ago, on 2 March 2017, Batha, a man from Azerbaijan, lost his life at the Vottem detention centre.
Two years ago, on 9 March 2024, A., a man from Ethiopia, took his own life at the 127bis detention centre.
Today, we do not forget them, and we do not forgive.
These deaths have one thing in common: those responsible. The staff and management of the detention centres, the Immigration Office, the Belgian State and the European Union.
At the time of the events, Batha had just been transferred from 127bis to Vottem. According to the limited information available, this man had spent 36 hours in solitary confinement after slashing his neck with a razor blade.
Rather than providing appropriate care after such a display of distress, the centre’s response was to isolate this man and probably leave him to bleed to death. A worker at the center reportedly described the cell as ‘full of blood’1.
An article by the RTBF2 stated that “the detainee had been transferred to Vottem because his case was considered ‘serious‘. The man had been placed in solitary confinement and was monitored by camera. During the night, he received visits every half hour.” These are the words of the spokesperson for the Immigration Office. The version given by his fellow detainees is different, but it should be noted that the RTBF did not give them the opportunity to speak. It should also be noted that their article states in the opening lines that the deceased man was a drug addict and suffered from ‘psychiatric problems’: an editorial choice that is reminiscent of a common practice in the media: that of suggesting that the victim was responsible for their own death by invoking their mental health or criminal record.
At the time, the CRACPE (Collectif de Résistance aux Centres pour Étrangers) denounced in a press release3: “What happened in that cell? We don’t know. The public prosecutor’s office is on site. But what we do know is that the cell is a prison within a prison. That it means complete isolation, inhumane treatment. That this can prevent a cry for help, whatever the cause, from being heard and taken into account.”
Indeed, we do not know what happened in that cell for 36 hours. What we do know, however, is what hundreds of detainees say about what usually happens there: neglect and violence. Yet the forensic doctor declared it was a ‘natural death’.
After this tragedy, the detainees said: “This morning, the guards are playing loud music and trying to distract us. They have no respect for anything, madam, not even the dead.”
“They have no respect for anything“: neither the dead nor the living, those who must continue to endure their detention after learning of the death of their comrade. Two years ago, at 127bis, after A.’s body was discovered, the centre’s management went around the different wings of the building to confirm the death by hanging and to ask the detainees to ‘remain calm out of respect for the deceased’. The detainee who discovered the body was reportedly transferred to another centre against his will.
Before being placed in a detention centre, A. had presented himself at the police station to request voluntary return to Ethiopia. He had spent 12 years in Belgium. Fellow detainees revealed that A.’s condition was alarming, that he was receiving a lot of medication and was constantly shaking4.
When those who implement detention policies speak of ‘natural death’, we speak of murder. Of failure to assist people in danger. Of the killing of people who are pushed to their limits by a system that crushes them.
In memory of Batha and A.
In memory of all those whose lives have been taken by migration policies.
In solidarity with all those who suffer and resist.
Down with borders and their world
Liberté, freedom, الحریة
1 https://www.gettingthevoiceout.org/une-mort-naturelle-dans-un-cachot/
2 https://www.rtbf.be/article/un-homme-decede-en-cellule-d-isolement-au-centre-ferme-de-vottem-9543733
3 https://www.gettingthevoiceout.org/mort-au-cachot/
4 https://www.gettingthevoiceout.org/suicide-au-centre-ferme-127bis-les-detenus-sous-le-choc-nous-alertent/
https://www.dhnet.be/regions/bruxelles/2024/03/12/un-homme-sest-suicide-dans-lenceinte-du-centre-ferme-127bis-6Z3WLD4STJCOPDCXSFEK2AUXGM/
