Lock Up Those Involved in Torture, Church Head Appeals
People involved in the recent torture of five women accused of practicing sorcery in the Highlands should be arrested and locked up, says the general secretary of the Catholic Bishops Conference of PNG and Solomon Islands, Fr Giorgio Licini.
“I think that these torturers are animals and they should be arrested, locked up in a cell and the key thrown into the sea,” he said.
“It’s disheartening to see and read about this kinds of things.
He said the people had had enough with excuses and justification.
“These are crimes against humanity. It is criminal victimisation of women. It is total nonsense, a monument to stupidity, ignorance, arrogance by a male dominated community,” he added.
Fr Licini said justice cannot be gained from violence and baseless accusations.
“Violence is never justifiable and for real crimes people may have committed, there are the courts and the judicial process but there is no room for baseless accusations and torture,” he said.
“It’s time for stupid sorcery beliefs to go and women be respected for what they are and their value.
“Primitive men accept to be educated or end up in jail.”
Meanwhile, he explained that
sorcery was a cultural trait not of nobility but often appeared to be needed to explain almost everything bad that happened in people’s lives.
“It is believed that the cause of tragedy is not to be found in something but in somebody. It somehow
needs to be so, since a person can be identified, detained, accused, and executed; thus, satisfying the thirst for retribution, compensation and revenge; first at the psychological level, second possibly at the financial level as well,” said Fr Licini.