Concerns in Europe January June 2001
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- Bu səhifədəki naviqasiya:
- The UN Human Rights Committee
Concerns in Europe: January - June 2001
Amnesty International September 2001 On 5 May 2001, Pál Sztojka, József Lakatos, József Sárközi, Miklós Rostás, and János Kolompár, all of whom are residents of Kalocsa, aged between 18 and 23 and of Romani origin, went to collect scrap metal and plastic waste in the local area. Close to the village of Fiserbócsa, on the side of the road, Pál Sztojka’s car got stuck in the sand. An older man driving a tractor offered his assistance to tow the car onto the road. At this point a police officer, accompanied by a guard, drove up and asked the Roma for their identity cards. Then a third vehicle, a jeep, stopped and its driver, who was later identified as a farm-guard, began to shout insults and threats at the Roma. He reportedly said “Dig gypsies, dig your grave. You will die today!” This man then drove off, followed by the police patrol car. The Roma also continued their car journey in the same direction. As they approached a bar on the road between Soltvadkert and Jakabszállás, they discovered that the road was blocked-off by the farm guard’s, while the police patrol car was parked some distance away, by the side of the road. Pál Sztojka reversed the car and turned back while the farm guard pursued the Romani men. When Pál Sztojka’s car got stuck in the sand for the second time, the farm guard reportedly fired several times (apparently from at shotgun) at the Roma who ran and hid in the forest. Later, on the same day, Pál Sztojka, József Lakatos, József Sárközi, Miklós Rostás, and János Kolompár tried to report the incident to the police. They went to the nearest police station in Soltvadkert where they were referred to the station in Kisk rös, the nearest larger town. However, there they were instructed to file their complaint in Kalocsa, from where they were sent to the station in Kecskemét. None of the officers they spoke to at these stations accepted their complaint or took other appropriate action to protect them from further racist violence. On 10 May Pál Sztojka once again went to the Soltvadkert police station, wearing a hidden camera and an audio recorder provided by RTL-Klub, a commercial television station. The following exchange between Pál Sztojka and an unidentified police officer was subsequently broadcast in an RTL-Klub program:
Police officer: “What the hell for?” Pál Sztojka: “There was a shooting.” Police officer: “And you have not been shot dead? That is too bad.” (...) Pál Sztojka “There was a police officer there too.” Police officer: “There was a police officer there and he didn’t shoot you?”
Pál Sztojka on the head. On 14 May, during an on- camera interview with an RTL-Klub journalists, Antal Csábi, a Kisk rösi police official, denied that there had been any attempt at filing a complaint in this case. Officer Csábi also stated on camera that the Romani men had not attempted to file a complaint (feljelentés) in connection with the incident, but had only been reporting a shooting incident to the police (bejelentés). AI has learned that the police officers who initially refused to take the victims’ complaint are currently participating in the investigation of the shooting incident. Some of the Romani victims have subsequently been harassed by officers who allegedly intimidated them by threatening to have them investigated on suspicion of theft. Pál Sztojka’s car, which was damaged in the shooting, is not currently in use. However, the Kalocsa county court, which is conducting the investigation into the shooting, has asked Pál Sztojka to have the car towed, at his own expense, for a forensic examination. Pál Sztojka was told that should he fail to do so the case would be closed because of lack of evidence. At the same time Pál Sztojka is not aware that there is any investigation into the police conduct before and following the shooting incident, when police officers apparently failed adequately to protect the victims from racist verbal abuse and violence. AI has asked the Hungarian authorities for reports on investigations into all reported incidents. The organization also called on the authorities to ensure that the Romani men from Kalocsa are protected from further harassment by the police; to provide information on all measures undertaken to ensure that the officers suspected of failing to protect the victims of racist violence in this incident are excluded from the conduct of the investigation into the reported shooting; and to take steps to ensure that a thorough and an impartial investigation into Pál Sztojka’s complaint is carried out irrespective of the complainant’s financial inability to participate in this process by making his car available for a forensic examination at a designated site. AI also asked for information about any legal provisions regulating the status and/or duties of police officers who have been indicted for offences committed in the service, as well as for information concerning the current status on the police force of Major István Nemesi, and officers László Soltész, Ferenc Drégelyvári, and György Nagy, who were convicted for the ill-treatment of László Vidák.
I R E L A N D
first decision against Ireland in an individual case brought under the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Committee found that Ireland had violated the right to equality before the law of a person, who had been deprived of a trial by jury and referred to a three- judge Special Criminal Court, without the Director of Public Prosecutions giving reasons for the referral. The Committee was reported to have stated that Ireland should not try people before the Special Criminal Court unless it can show reasonable and objective criteria for the decision. The Committee also stated that Ireland must provide an “effective remedy”
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