Amnesty International September 2001
AI Index: EUR 01/003/2001
CONCERNS IN EUROPE
January - June 2001
FOREWORD
This bulletin contains information about Amnesty International’s main concerns in Europe between
January and June 2001. Not every country in Europe is reported on: only those where there were significant
developments in the period covered by the bulletin.
The five Central Asian republics of Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan
are included in the Europe Region because of their membership of the Commonwealth of Independent
States (CIS) and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
This bulletin contains an index on pages 100 and 101 about cases and incidents investigated by
Amnesty International affecting women and children. They are not an exhaustive summary of the
organization’s concerns, but a reflection of the range of violations suffered by women, children and
juveniles in Europe.
A number of individual country reports have been issued on the concerns featured in this bulletin.
References to these are made under the relevant country entry. In addition, more detailed information about
particular incidents or concerns may be found in Urgent Actions and News Service Items issued by
Amnesty International.
This bulletin is published by Amnesty International every six months. References to previous bulletins
in the text are:
AI Index: EUR 01/001/2001
Concerns in Europe: July - December 2000
AI Index: EUR 01/03/00
Concerns in Europe: January - June 2000
AI Index: EUR 01/01/00
Concerns in Europe: July - December 1999
AI Index: EUR 01/02/99
Concerns in Europe: January - June 1999
AI Index: EUR 01/02/98
Concerns in Europe: January - June 1998
AI Index: EUR 01/03/92
Concerns in Europe: November 1991-April 1992
AI Index: EUR 01/02/91
Concerns in Europe: May-October 1991
A L B A N I A
Allegations of torture and ill-treatment of
detainees by police
There were further allegations that police had tortured
and ill-treated detainees. On the night of 20 to 21
January Azgan Haklaj, a local leader of the opposition
Democratic Party in the northern district of Tropoja,
was arrested at home and subsequently detained for
investigation on charges of “taking part in illegal
demonstrations” and “violence against property”. The
charges, which he denied, related to a rally held in the
town of Bajram Curri in November 2000 which
escalated into violent clashes between armed men and
police. During these the police station was attacked
and one man (a civilian) was shot dead by police, and
others wounded. On 22 January Azgan Haklaj filed a
complaint alleging that masked police officers who
had arrested him had beaten him with rifle butts,
struck his wife and child, and had continued to beat
and kick him while driving him to Tirana. A forensic
medical report confirmed he had injuries consistent
with these allegations. The Ministry of Public Order
denied that his wife or child had been ill-treated, and
stated that police officers had resorted to force only
because he had violently resisted arrest. In early April
his lawyer stated that he had only once been
questioned in connection with his complaint, and
claimed that no other investigation work had yet been
undertaken by police or prosecutors.
In March a police officer in the town of Pogradec
reportedly punched and kicked Lorenc Çallo, whom
he wrongly suspected of having fired a gun. He also
hit him with a radio handset, injuring his left eye.
Eyewitnesses and a forensic medical examination
confirmed Lorenc Çallo’s allegations. The People’s
Advocate (Ombudsperson) who investigated this
incident recommended the dismissal of the officer.
Çlirim Proko from the southern village of Lazarat
was arrested on 16 March in connection with an
incident in September 2000 when a government
minister was prevented from entering the village by a
group of armed men. He was also reportedly accused
of wounding a police officer. Following his detention
in Gjirokastra, several police officers reportedly took
him from the police station and drove him into the hills
outside the city where they brutally beat him. His
bruises were reportedly visible to his lawyer and to a
doctor who examined him nine days later.
In April the Secretary General of Shoqata Gay
Albania (Gay Albania Society), Nasser Almalak, a
Jordanian resident in Albania, and Amanta Bakalli, a
transvestite, were attacked by four members of the
Republic Guards (a force responsible for the security
of government officials and buildings) outside the
Guards’ barracks, where they had gone to meet a
friend. When they later went to the Guards’
headquarters to complain, they were reportedly
subjected to sexual threats, but allowed to make a
formal complaint. Amanta Bakalli shortly afterwards
left the country.
In the run-up to national elections on 24 June the
Democratic Party complained that on 17 June police
had beaten and injured many of its supporters during
a rally by the governing Socialist Party in the town of
Kavaja. The authorities stated that some Democratic
Party supporters had attempted to disrupt the rally, and
had thrown stones at police officers who had asked
them to desist. Four police officers were said to have
been lightly injured.
Torture and ill-treatment of minors
In March 2001 an Albanian NGO, the Legal Clinic for
Minors, stated that almost all of the 45 minors
detained in custody or serving sentences which the
Clinic had interviewed during the previous six months
had been subjected to physical violence - beatings - in
police stations.
Investigation of allegations
of police ill-treatment
In June AI was informed by the prosecuting
authorities that judicial investigations into (separate)
complaints of ill-treatment filed by Ferit Çepi and
Naim Pulaku (see AI Index: EUR 01/001/2001 where
Naim Pulaku is incorrectly named as Sami Pulaku)
had been completed and the cases sent to court for
trial. In a third case, Elbasan district court found a
police officer, Tahir Çaushi, guilty of “committing
arbitrary acts” and sentenced him to a fine of 150,000
leks (about US$1,000). He had detained and beaten
Gentian Bici in February 2000, causing him injuries.
AI visit and report
In March two AI delegates visited Albania for
research purposes; during their visit they met and
interviewed victims of police ill-treatment and their
lawyers as well as Albanian NGOs working in the
field of human rights and journalists. They also spoke
with officials, including the Minister of Public Order,
police and prosecutors. See Albania: Torture and ill-
treatment - an end to impunity? (AI Index: EUR
11/001/2001), May 2001
A R M E N I A
Accession to the Council of Europe
(update to AI Index: EUR 01/001/2001)
On 25 January Armenia and Azerbaijan formally
acceded to the Council of Europe, following an
invitation from the Committee of Ministers on 9
November 2000. On the day of joining, Armenia and
Azerbaijan signed the European Convention for the
Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental
Freedoms (ECHR) as well as Protocol Six to that
convention, which provides for the abolition of the
1
See PACE Opinion Numbers 121 and 122
death penalty for crimes committed in peacetime. The
countries had committed to signing and ratifying those
two conventions within one year of joining.
1
Council
of Europe Secretary-General Walter Schwimmer
instituted post-accession monitoring of the two new
members’ commitments relating to respect for
democratic principles, rule of law and the observance
of human rights. In particular, in February the