JAKARTA - Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported pretrial detainees in North Korea (North Korea) were subjected to systemic torture, humiliation, and sexual harassment. The report also said those held in prisons were treated "worse than animals."
Quoting the Independent, Wednesday, October 21, the organization compiled reports from eight former government officials who fled North Korea and 22 North Koreans - consisting of 15 women and 7 men - who had been detained in detention and interrogation facilities. They explained the treatment they received.
The detainees described repeated torture, dangerous and unhygienic conditions, and unpaid forced labor. Among those cited in the report are former soldiers who fled North Korea in 2017.
The former soldier said the prisoners were forced to sit still on the floor for days and were beaten and kicked if they moved. The guards would tell them to reach out and beat them with a stick, one by one.
"If we move, we are punished by standing and sitting, doing push-ups or holding on to iron bars," the soldier said.
The prisoners described living in inhuman conditions, with prison cells constantly overcrowded and without basic facilities. The people had little or no food.
They also could not bathe or clean themselves because they were not provided with sanitary facilities, which was hell for female prisoners who experienced menstruation. While most inmates did not have blankets or enough space to sleep on the floor.
Corruption was also rampant, according to the report. Some inmates will bribe officers to get more food and better facilities. This results in a limited and unequal distribution of resources. Some female prisoners even reported sexual harassment and assault, including rape.
"Interviewees said that agents from the police, secret police and prosecutors, most responsible for their interrogation, touched their faces and bodies, including breasts and hips, either through their clothes or by placing their hands under their clothes," the report said. . "They said they were powerless to fight back because their fate was in the hands of these people."
"North Korea's system of pre-trial detention and investigation is arbitrary, violent, cruel and degrading," said HRW Asia Director Brad Adams.
"North Koreans say they live in constant fear of being trapped in a system where official procedures are usually irrelevant, guilty, and the only way out is through bribes and connections," he added.
Former detainees told HRW that once they were arrested, they had no guarantees that they would receive a fair trial or independent legal representation. Detainees do not have the means to file a complaint or appeal the torture and ill-treatment received. Once someone faces an accusation, it is unlikely that they will receive at least a short prison sentence.
Explaining the hatred the authorities in the North Korean regime have for prisoners, four former government officials said that the ruling Labor Party in North Korea considers prisoners to be less than human beings. Therefore, it is not appropriate to make direct eye contact with law enforcement officials.
While the HRW report specifically highlights pretrial abuse of detainees as a gross human rights violation North Korea as a whole is well documented. In 2014, the United Nations Commission for Inquiry into Human Rights in North Korea said that systematic human rights violations committed by the North Korean government amounted to crimes against humanity.
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