Most of the inmates in a prison in the Democratic Republic of Congo were raped during escape attempt from prison. Until 129 people died during the painful escape, when the guards opened fire against prisoners.
A chaos which the attackers took advantage of to subject their fellow prisoners to a new ordeal: More than 260 women from the women’s quarters were raped during the escape, according to an internal United Nations report cited by Reuters, some up to 10 times. One of them couldn’t even survive subsequently and eventually died.
The escape attempt took place on September 2 at Kinshasa prison, which officially has a capacity of 1,500 inmates but houses more than 15,000. According to the report mentioned by the aforementioned agency, 268 of the 348 dams from the penitentiary center were victims of sexual violence during the chaos that followed. 17 of the victims were under 19. Shocking figures that could be even higher, since other victims may not have dared to say so.
Speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, one of the women attacked said she was raped by at least a dozen inmatesAnother inmate described how prisoners would pounce on inmates and even attack older women.
It is also unclear whether all the attackers were prisoners, since they mingled with the military in a pavilion engulfed in darkness. After what happened, the prison was isolated and the women They only received help a week laterThe Congolese government has ordered a investigation.
