Albino grave exhumed in Neno
People of Kalinde Village in Traditional Authority (T/A) Mlauli in Neno had a rude awakening on Monday when they learnt that a grave of an 11-year-old boy with albinisim who died in 2008 was exhumed by unknown criminals.
According to Neno Police Station spokesperson Raphael Kaliati, there was a funeral in village and when people went to the graveyard to prepare a grave, they noted the tampered grave.
“The matter was then reported to village head Kalinde who referred the matter to police,” said Kaliati.
He said police then visited the scene of the crime and ordered the removal of the remaining soil.
This is when they found that all bones were exhumed except for a few bones from the back and the upper jaws, according to Kaliati.
“We suspect that this incident occurred between the months of April and May 2016. No arrests have been so far,” he said.
While the country has recorded numerous cases of albino graves being tampered with, recently, more cases were reported about killings, abductions and arrests of suspects in the crimes against people with albinism.
According to Amnesty International report titled We Are Not Animals to be Hunted or Sold”: Violence and Discrimination Against People with Albinism in Malawi released in early June, at that time, the Malawi Police Service (MPS) recorded at least 39 cases of illegal exhumation of the bodies of people with albinism.
Last week Mulanje South member of Parliament (MP) Elias Bon Kalindo led “half naked” demonstrations to lobby for the resumption of the death penalty following the rise in numbers of attacks and persecutions towards people with albinism. n
