CHRR condemns suspected gays beating
Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation says the beating of Kelvin Gomani, a man suspected to be gay, in Lilongwe on Monday should be condemned in strongest terms because Malawi claims to be a God-fearing country.
CHRR executive director Timothy Mtambo said this in an interview yesterday, adding that these are issues people like [People’s Party spokesperson] Ken Msonda should be explaining to Malawians because others have started doing what he said they should do.
Msonda allegedly posted on his Facebook page last December that the best way to deal with the issue in the country was to kill homosexuality-oriented people.
From that statement, he was dragged to court on charges of inciting others to break the law, but the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) discontinued the case.
“It was sad that government discontinued the case where he was supposed to be held accountable before the court engaged the case. By doing that, government sent a message that it was fine to beat and kill people because of their sexual orientation,” said Mtambo.
“This is totally unacceptable as it is a complete violation of human rights and the State should take charge to make sure that people are protected regardless of what they are. People responsible must be punished and the church must also condemn it because the church is against violence and killing of people.”
Malawi recently invoked a moratorium on laws criminalising homosexuality after pressure mounted from the international community for the country to respect rights of all, including homosexuals.
