Two years ago, on 7 January 2024, people detained at the 127bis closed centre reported the death of one of their fellow detainees by suicide.
Just a few days earlier, on Christmas Day, 25 December 2023, a man (A.) was found dead in his isolation cell at the Merksplas detention centre. The management also said it was a suicide.
Two years later, we remember these two people, whose names we unfortunately do not know.
Two years later, the message remains the same: detention centres kill.
The person found dead in Merksplas on Christmas Day was in solitary confinement in the medical wing of Block 5, where ‘people with specific medical needs’ are placed. He was due to be deported to Germany that same week. According to his fellow detainees, this tragedy is ‘the result of poor conditions’ and the inhumane treatment they receive at the centre. Several of them also expressed doubts about the suicide and called for an investigation.
‘They’re trying to hide the truth from us,’ said the fellow inmates of the man who died at 127bis, who were kept in the dark about the death and its circumstances. The management and the Immigration Office had declared it a suicide, which was questioned by the inmates, who pointed to the suspicious circumstances. According to them, the man was ill and had not been listened to by the health services at the closed centre. One fellow detainee denounced: ‘This is not just a suicide. They are killing people here. This is not normal.’
On 19 December, we commemorated the death of a man at the Vottem detention centre 10 years ago.
These deaths are not accidental; they are symptoms of a dehumanising, violent detention system and, more broadly, of colonial, racist and fascist policies.
These deaths and suicides are the direct consequences of detention in closed centres and the threat of deportation. We hold the centres, the Immigration Office and the Belgian state responsible. We will repeat it as many times as necessary: you have blood on your hands.
Our thoughts go out to the victims of the border system and deadly, racist migration policies.
Our solidarity is with their loved ones…
Detention in closed centres kills.
Borders kill.
We will not forget.
We will not forgive.
