After one dead, police release ikokwu4 with torture marks, fail to establish case against them (photos)

On December 19, 2019, the Nigerian Police arrested five men in Rivers State for alleged car theft.

One of them, Chima Ikwunado, died in police detention, supposedly owing to the severe torture they were subjected to.

The other four men, Victor Ogbonna, Osaze Friday, Ifeanyi Osuji, Ifeanyi Onyekwere, were later tagged and referred to as Ikokwu4, because they were mechanics at the popular Ikokwu motor spareparts market in the state.

However, on Wednesday January 29, 2020, the four men were released, with injuries on their bodies, reflecting torture marks they had received while in police custody.

They were set free after the state Department of Public Prosecution (DPP) announced that they could not prove any criminal case against them.

Read also: EFCC arrests landlord of suspected internet fraudsters

Earlier, the owners of the cars the suspect were said to have stolen, Eradiri Erepamo and Chinedu Ezenwaliri had said that their vehicles were not stolen but given to the arrested men for repair.

In its report, the DPP instructed the prison authorities to urgently release the four detained men because no criminal case was established against them.

Members of the Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), members of the public, journalists, members of the Ohaneze Ndigbo, were all around to witness the release of the Ikokwu4 at the Rivers State Judiciary Complex premises on Wednesday.

These groups, as well as business operators in Ikokwu motor spareparts market protested and publicly decried the travails of the suspects while they were in captivity.

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