Crisis in DR Congo (Children persecuted for witchcraft)

[icymist]

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Jean goes on to tell me that his friend's parents came to his grandparents house where he was living and told them that he was a sorcerer and would have to be burned.

Then, he says, his grandparents gave him a beating before taking him down to the offices of the local authority.

"The head of the authority beat me with a stick and told me to say that I was a sorcerer. He forced me to say it. People were waiting outside to kill me," he says.

Jean was then brought before a local priest who confirmed that he was a sorcerer.

It was only after the Children's Voice charity visited his grandparents and warned them that making witchcraft allegations against children is now illegal, that the matter was finally dropped.
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