Amnesty: No justice yet for 640 Boko Haram detainees ‘killed by soldiers’

Amnesty International says the federal government has failed families of the 640 recaptured Boko Haram detainees of Giwa Barracks reportedly killed by soldiers in 2014.

On March 14, 2014, Boko Haram attacked the Giwa military barracks in Maiduguri, Borno stste, reportedly freeing hundreds of its members who were detained there.

Commenting on the incident on Friday, Osai Ojigho, director of the human rights group said the organisation “received credible evidence that as the military regained control, more than 600 people, mostly unarmed recaptured detainees, were extra-judicially executed in various locations across Maiduguri”.

Ojigho said families of the victims have been waiting for the government to bring the perpetrators of the alleged killing to book all to no avail.

She accused the government of attempting to shield human rights violators from facing justice.

“We have repeatedly called on Nigerian authorities to initiate independent and effective investigations to ensure that those behind the massacre that happened six years ago face justice,” Ojigho said.

“Despite repeated promises by the present government and establishing various committees to investigate the 14 March 2014 killings, not a single person has been held responsible or brought to justice for the mass killings that is among the most horrific incidents perpetrated by the military in the ongoing conflict in the north east.

“The fact that not a single person has been brought to justice for the Giwa Barracks massacre shows lack of genuine commitment to protecting human rights and a deliberate attempt to shield human rights violators from facing justice.

“Families of victims have been keenly waiting for justice in the last six years, and their wait is only getting longer and strengthening an already pervasive culture of impunity within the Nigerian military.

“Nigeria authorities must show genuine commitment to the rule of law by ensuring accountability and justice for all victims. Above all, perpetrators of the Giwa Barracks massacre must not escape justice.”