Why Does the State Prosecute Witchcraft?

Introduction

The Central African Republic is one of the few countries where alleged witchcraft has long been treated as a criminal offence under state law rather than solely as a matter of local belief or mob accusation. This gives official legal force to claims that cannot be tested using ordinary standards of evidence. Although men are also prosecuted, women—especially older, widowed, poor or socially isolated women—are disproportionately affected. Human rights organisations have repeatedly argued that the combination of criminal law, widespread belief in supernatural harm and weak judicial safeguards has produced a system in which vulnerable women can be imprisoned for accusations that cannot be objectively proved.[Avocats Sans Frontières]asf.beAvocats Sans FrontièresThe penalisation of charlatanism and witchcraft practices: An obstacle to the realisation of the rights of women a…

The issue matters because it illustrates how a legal system can reinforce a broader witch panic. Instead of acting solely as protection against mob violence, the courts may legitimise accusations that begin within families or communities. As a result, imprisonment often becomes part of the cycle of persecution rather than an escape from it.[Avocats Sans Frontières]asf.beAvocats Sans FrontièresThe penalisation of charlatanism and witchcraft practices: An obstacle to the realisation of the rights of women a…

Why Does the State Prosecute Witchcraft?

Unlike countries where accusations remain largely informal, the Central African Republic has retained criminal provisions against what its penal code describes as charlatanism and witchcraft practices. Earlier versions of the law technically allowed the death penalty, although this was not carried out in practice for witchcraft convictions. Legal reforms replaced this with prison sentences and fines, but the offence itself remained. Human rights advocates argue that the change reduced the severity of punishment without addressing the underlying problem of criminalising alleged supernatural acts.[Refworld]refworld.org2008 Report on International Religious Freedom - Central African Republic | Refworld…

The continued existence of the offence reflects the strength of popular belief in witchcraft across much of the country. Politically, removing the law has been difficult because many citizens expect the justice system to respond when illness, unexplained death or repeated misfortune is attributed to supernatural attack. Courts therefore operate under pressure to provide legal answers to questions that communities regard as real, even when those questions cannot be resolved through conventional evidence.[Avocats Sans Frontières]asf.beOpen source on asf.be.

What the Penal Code Criminalises

The law does not simply punish fraud by people pretending to possess magical powers. It also criminalises alleged witchcraft itself, allowing prosecutions based on claims that someone caused harm through supernatural means. This creates an unusual legal situation: prosecutors must deal with accusations that cannot be verified through physical evidence in the same way as offences such as assault or theft.[Avocats Sans Frontières]asf.beAvocats Sans FrontièresThe penalisation of charlatanism and witchcraft practices: An obstacle to the realisation of the rights of women a…

Historically, prosecutions have frequently relied upon:

Government officials have themselves acknowledged the difficulty of investigating such allegations. Even where convictions are not secured, accused people have often spent months or years in detention awaiting trial.[Refworld]refworld.org2007 Report on International Religious Freedom - Central African Republic | RefworldSeptember 14, 2007…Published: September 14, 2007

Why Supernatural Claims Resist Fair Proof

The central legal problem is that alleged supernatural harm cannot be independently demonstrated or disproved through ordinary judicial methods. Criminal courts normally require evidence capable of being examined, challenged and tested. Witchcraft accusations instead depend upon belief, interpretation and personal conviction.

This creates several risks for fair trials:

Human rights organisations therefore argue that criminal prosecutions for witchcraft are fundamentally incompatible with the principles of due process because the alleged offence cannot be established through evidence meeting ordinary criminal standards.[Avocats Sans Frontières]asf.beAvocats Sans FrontièresThe penalisation of charlatanism and witchcraft practices: An obstacle to the realisation of the rights of women a…

Why Women Are Disproportionately Imprisoned

Women are not accused because they are legally defined as more likely to practise witchcraft. Rather, social conditions make particular groups especially vulnerable.

Those most frequently targeted include:

An accusation may emerge after an unexplained death, prolonged illness or domestic conflict, but underlying disputes over property, authority or family relationships often shape who becomes the suspected witch. Human rights researchers describe accusations as interacting with existing gender inequalities rather than arising randomly.[Avocats Sans Frontières]asf.beAvocats Sans FrontièresThe penalisation of charlatanism and witchcraft practices: An obstacle to the realisation of the rights of women a…

Because women often possess fewer financial resources, they may also struggle to obtain lawyers or secure release while awaiting trial, increasing the practical consequences of an accusation even where conviction is uncertain.[Refworld]refworld.org2011 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - Central African Republic | Refworld…

Women Detained in Bimbo Prison

The women’s prison at Bimbo, near Bangui, has become the clearest symbol of how witchcraft prosecutions affect female prisoners.

Reporting over many years has documented substantial numbers of women held there on witchcraft-related charges. Earlier United States government human rights reports described dozens of women detained or awaiting trial, with prison officials stating that some were kept there partly because they feared lynching if released into their home communities.[Refworld]refworld.org2008 Report on International Religious Freedom - Central African Republic | Refworld…

More recent research by Avocats Sans Frontières suggests that the pattern has persisted. Its legal aid work found that around half of the women imprisoned at Bimbo were serving sentences connected with alleged witchcraft or charlatanism offences. The organisation argues that imprisonment frequently reflects broader discrimination against women and children rather than reliable proof of criminal conduct.[Avocats Sans Frontières]asf.beAvocats Sans FrontièresThe penalisation of charlatanism and witchcraft practices: An obstacle to the realisation of the rights of women a…

This situation illustrates a difficult paradox. Authorities sometimes describe detention as protecting accused women from mob violence. Yet imprisonment itself also legitimises the accusation by treating alleged supernatural activity as a genuine criminal offence. In practice, women may face both community persecution and formal prosecution.[Refworld]refworld.org2008 Report on International Religious Freedom - Central African Republic | Refworld…

The Human Rights Debate

Critics do not deny that many citizens sincerely believe witchcraft causes real harm. Instead, they argue that criminal law is the wrong instrument for resolving those beliefs.

The principal criticisms include:

Supporters of reform have therefore called for repealing witchcraft offences, strengthening legal aid, improving evidential standards and addressing the social conflicts that generate accusations in the first place.[Avocats Sans Frontières]asf.beAvocats Sans FrontièresThe penalisation of charlatanism and witchcraft practices: An obstacle to the realisation of the rights of women a…

Why This Matters Beyond Individual Cases

The Central African Republic provides an important example in the study of witch panics because the state itself has historically participated in validating supernatural accusations through criminal law. In many societies, witchcraft accusations occur outside formal legal institutions. Here, however, legislation, policing and imprisonment have often become part of the accusation process.

For historians and legal scholars, this makes the country unusual. The issue is not simply that people believe in witchcraft, but that courts have attempted to adjudicate claims that resist ordinary standards of proof. The resulting burden has fallen disproportionately on older and socially vulnerable women, making witchcraft law both a question of criminal justice and a question of gender equality.[Avocats Sans Frontières]asf.beAvocats Sans FrontièresThe penalisation of charlatanism and witchcraft practices: An obstacle to the realisation of the rights of women a…

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Endnotes

1. Source: refworld.org
Link:https://www.refworld.org/reference/annualreport/usdos/2012/en/86541

2. Source: refworld.org
Link:https://www.refworld.org/reference/annualreport/usdos/2008/en/61552

3. Source: refworld.org
Link:https://www.refworld.org/reference/annualreport/usdos/2007/en/46955

Published: September 14, 2007

4. Source: refworld.org
Link:https://www.refworld.org/reference/annualreport/usdos/2011/en/78757

Published: April 8, 2011

5. Source: refworld.org
Link:https://www.refworld.org/reference/annualreport/usdos/2009/en/70677

6. Source: refworld.org
Link:https://www.refworld.org/reference/annualreport/usdos/2008/en/69554

7. Source: asf.be
Link:https://asf.be/the-penalisation-of-charlatanism-and-witchcraft-practices-an-obstacle-to-the-realisation-of-the-rights-of-women-and-minors-in-the-central-african-republic/

8. Source: asf.be
Link:https://asf.be/country/cf-en/page/3/

9. Source: asf.be
Link:https://asf.be/la-penalisation-des-pratiques-de-charlatanisme-et-de-sorcellerie-entrave-a-la-realisation-des-droits-des-femmes-et-des-personnes-mineures-en-republique-centrafricaine/?lang=fr

Published: November 14, 2022

Additional References

10. Source: prison-insider.com
Title: Central African Republic: witchcraft
Link:https://www.prison-insider.com/en/articles/republique-centrafricaine-sorcellerie

Published: July 28, 2023

11. Source: youtube.com
Title: ‘Witchcraft’ in Africa: Many women find it hard to prove innocence
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wV0ubcWkC4k

12. Source: youtube.com
Title: GHANA: JAIL FOR WOMEN ACCUSED OF WITCHCRAFT | RTVE News
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzXVpoQdaAg

13. Source: youtube.com
Title: Ghanaian Lawmakers Push to Close Witch Camps
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blqNFL9ihts

14. Source: youtube.com
Title: Inside Ghana’s last ‘witch camps’ • FRANCE 24 English
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=didjLZkEoRI

15. Source: youtube.com
Title: Accusing someone of witchcraft attracts a jail term of 5 years
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFWnVBasDic

16. Source: Wikipedia
Title: Laws against witchcraft
Link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_against_witchcraft

17. Source: icnl.org
Title: Human Rights Report
Link:https://www.icnl.org/research/library/central-african-republic_carhrreport/

18. Source: dullahomarinstitute.org.za
Link:https://dullahomarinstitute.org.za/acjr/resource-centre/US%20Department%20of%20State%20Human%20Rights%20Report%20Central%20African%20Republic%202011.pdf/view