Armed ViolenceNews

Central African Republic Colonel Arrested By Russian Mercenaries Transferred To Torture Centre

Colonel Moussa’s offence has not been specified, as the Russian mercenaries continue to hold him.

A senior Central African Republic army, FACA officer who was last week arrested by Russian mercenaries of the Wagner Security Group in Ndele, Bamingui Bangoran prefecture and transferred to Bangui has again been moved to Camp Roux, a notorious torture centre.

Colonel Moussa Kitoko was Commander of the Northeast defense zone before he was arrested by the Russians and detained in the research and investigation section of the national gendarmerie. 

He has, in the last few days, been reportedly secretly transferred to the notorious Camp Roux military facility.

According to gendarmerie sources, “the judicial dossier of Colonel Kitocko is empty as the Russians are unable to point out and present evidence on exactly what he did before they decided to arrest him.”


“There is no specific accusation against him and even at the research and investigation section, investigators have called on the state prosecutor to release him,” the sources revealed.

“What we are seeing here is really an arbitrary arrest in this country. The colonel is detained in the Camp Roux prison in an inhuman, cruel and degrading condition. The decision to detain him has no value,” declared an officer of the national army angrily.

Colonel Kitocko, is however, not the only FACA officer undergoing such treatment in the hands of the Russian paramilitary forces.

A Captain and former Commander of the FACA military detachment in Bria was also arrested and transferred to Camp Roux in the same conditions.

According to the gendarmerie, there are four officers and sub officers of the national army who remain in the prison of the research and investigation section among whom is Colonel Rodongo, chief of the transmission battalion and Adjudant Guetel, chief of the Berberati detention facility.

“All of them were arrested for no reason by Russian mercenaries and placed in detention under the watchful eyes of the authorities in Bangui,” their colleagues in the army lamented.


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Chief Bisong Etahoben

Chief Bisong Etahoben is a Cameroonian investigative journalist and traditional ruler. He writes for international media and has participated in several transnational investigations. Etahoben won the first-ever Cameroon Investigative Journalist Award in 1992. He serves as a member of a number of international investigative journalism professional bodies including the Forum for African Investigative Reporters (FAIR). He is HumAngle's Francophone and Central Africa editor.

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