Several juvenile Nigerians arrested and charged in connection with their involvement in anti-government protests in August appeared before a court in the West African nation on Friday. Their appearance, however, sparked outrage as many of them looked malnourished after being held in custody for two months, BBC reported.
Four of the arrested juveniles reportedly collapsed while showing symptoms of pain during their court appearance. They were later escorted to receive medical care.
The detention of the young suspects was condemned by human rights activists because of their age as one-third of those who initially appeared before the court were boys aged from 14 to 18 years.
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The 76 suspects have been charged with treason, felony, and inciting mutiny. They all entered not-guilty pleas. The protests in question reportedly happened as a result of the high cost of living in Nigeria.
But some of the protestors got into a physical altercation with security forces at some locations. And though police said seven people died as a result, rights groups claimed the number of deaths stood at 23.
The detained juveniles were among almost 700 suspects who were arrested. “Putting minors through these horrifying detentions for participating in protests against hunger and corruption is – so far – one of the deadliest attempts to suppress freedom of assembly,” Amnesty International said about the arrests.
Enough is Enough, which is a Nigerian rights organization, also labeled their arrests as “institutional child abuse.” “These teenagers have been remanded in prison for saying they were hungry. Their place is in school, not prison. Release them now,” the organization stated.
Per BBC, authorities charged some of the arrested protesters for flying Russian flags and petitioning the European nation’s president Vladimir Putin to intervene.
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