who was on my brothers case just threw down his ID papers and went outside to kill the youth. I really thought all of us would be killed. They yelled at us and screamed at the youth, ‘you’re an RDR,’ and he kept saying, ‘no I’m not RDR.’ As the gendarmes were dragging him outside he was begging for his life and asking for forgiveness. We never heard them ask the youth anything, not even for his ID. Then they told him to run but he was afraid, like he was frozen. Then they just pushed him away from the house and all seven of them got into a line and the boss man—the one with two pistols, gave order and they all opened fire. They were just firing and firing into him. A fifty-two-year-old bus driver who was captured while on his way home from work was one of seven men, including several foreigners, gunned down in a field near the railway. He was shot through the stomach and pretended he was dead. Three died on the spot and the other who were wounded were taken away:50 At around 2:00 p.m. on Thursday [October 26], as I was on my way home, I was halted by some gendarmes. I saw they had been capturing other people who were gathered off to one side. I gave my ID card and drivers license to one of them and heard him ask his boss, ‘look, this is a bus station worker from the local station.’ Then his boss replied, ‘I don’t care about the place he works, just look where he comes from.’ When they saw I had a Dioula name, the boss said, “he’s one of those Burkinabés who wants to burn the country and give it to Alassane. But today we’re going to do the burning.” After a few minutes the gendarmes, there were about fifteen of them, marched us across the railway line. Then they made us take off all our clothes and told us to lie down. Among us were at least three Malians; two brothers and an older man. The two brothers tried to explain that they’d just come on the bus from Daloa to visit their parents. They still had they luggage bags. But the gendarmes didn’t have time for explanations. They beat us in that place for about two hours. They kept saying one of their bosses had been killed, and that some of their guns had been stolen. While they were beating us we could hear a lot of shooting going on. I saw them opening fire into peoples homes. It was like a war going on. Then at around 4:00 they told us to lay face down and said, ‘it’s your turn now — look up at the sky and then look down at the earth and say good bye because we’re going to finish you off.’ The gendarmes were all around; there was no way to escape. While lying there I’d given myself to God. But all I wanted to do was ask them permission to go say goodbye to my children and my wife. I could hear the two Malian brothers softly reciting their prayers, “there is but one god,” and then the shooting started. Several detainees within the Agban Gendarme Camp reported that torture with the camp became worse after news of the gendarme’s death reached those within the camp. An RDR supporter who’d been detained earlier in the day describes this:51 Over the walkie-talkie of one of the gendarmes we heard something about another one being killed in Derrière Rail. After this things got completely out of control. One screamed, ‘did you hear that! One of our officers is worth one hundred of you.’ Then another threatened, ‘you people should start saying your last prayers.’ It was at this point they started burning us. Then all of a sudden seven new gendarmes arrived at the camp and went crazy; they were savage, beating and walking on top of us and saying they were going to kill us. Another gendarme was going wild, threatening to kill us since one of his gendarme friends had died. 50 51 Human Rights Watch interview, Abidjan, November 14, 2000. Human Rights Watch interview, Abidjan, November 14, 2000. Human Rights Watch 28 August 2001, Vol. 13, No. 6(A)