Sierra Leone Police reacts to Amnesty International’s report

The Sierra Leone Police (SLP) has in a press release issued on March 24, 2023, reacted to Amnesty International’s report on the government’s inaction in relation to the victims of the August 10, 2022, protest. 

SLP in its release referred to the report by Amnesty International as “biased, distorted, and partial”. This comes days after the international human rights body, issued a report titled: “Sierra Leone: seven months after August’s protests which turned violent in some locations, no justice yet for those injured or the families of those killed”.

In the report, Amnesty called for the need for investigations into the excessive use of force by security officers which led to the killings of dozens of citizens. 

Following the concerns raised by the organization, the Sierra Leone police expressed concern about what it termed as “allegations contained in the report” and the manner in which they were presented against the force. 

Furthermore, in the same press release, the police claimed that the use of force to contain August 10, 2022, insurrection was proportional, reasonable and necessary. The force also refutes allegations made by the organization of no special investigation committee to investigate the violent insurrection in August 2022 and also claims that victims were given access to lawyers.