Concerns in Europe January June 2001
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- Reports of police failure to protect the victims
Concerns in Europe: January - June 2001
Amnesty International September 2001 P O L A N D
and to investigate incidents of racist violence
In September AI wrote to the Minister of Justice, Stanis aw Iwanicki, expressing concern about reports of racist harassment and violence in which the police authorities apparently failed in their duty adequately to protect the victims. The organization was also concerned that the reported incidents have not been investigated thoroughly and impartially as required by international human rights standards, and that those allegedly responsible for racist violence had not been brought to justice. According to the information received from the European Roma Rights Center (ERRC), a regional non-governmental human rights organization, on 29 September 2000, in Warsaw, Nicolae Gheorghe, advisor on Roma and Sinti issues for the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and four other people, all of whom are of Romani origin, were refused service in the Guiness Pub, on Koszykowa Street. The waitress and then the manager asked Nicolae Gheorghe and his companions to leave. Shortly after they refused to do so, five guards of a private security company arrived and manhandled and dragged Nicolae Gheorghe, Salome Hirvaskoski and Gabriel Babus out of the restaurant. Nicolae Gheorghe, whose jacket had been ripped by the guards, then called the police from outside the restaurant to complain about the ill-treatment and the denial of access to a public service on the basis of his ethnic background. Police officers who arrived promptly took statements from the complainants. However, an investigation into the incident subsequently initiated by the District Public Prosecutor was reportedly closed on 20 December 2000, as the conduct of the security guards involved was not considered to be a criminal offence. Another ERRC report described repeated racist harassment of Romani residents of Brzeg in early December 2000. Members of extremist right-wing groups sprayed racist graffiti on Romani houses in three streets, breaking windows and in several instances attempting to break down the entrance doors. The police were reportedly called, but failed to arrive in time to apprehend the perpetrators of the racist violence. The commander of the local police, Officer S. 18 , reportedly dismissed the attacks as false allegations and stated that the Roma had painted the racist graffiti themselves. According to the representatives of Never Again, a non-governmental organization based in Warsaw, Officer S. accused the Roma of paying each other to make false witness statements, and that the Roma only pretend to be persecuted in order to claim political asylum abroad. AI also received reports indicating that people who are of obvious non-European origin have also been subjected to racist violence. On 9 May, at around 2pm, Florence Balagiza, an 18-year-old orphan from Rwanda who is seeking asylum in Poland, was walking alone through a forest close to the refugee camp at D bak
. Suddenly she was approached by three men, who started to hit her on her head, back and legs and pulled her to the ground, calling her “czerna" (black). They also took her bag containing some documents and money. Florence Balagiza then went back to the refugee camp and called the police but was told that they were busy and would only be able to come to speak to her the following day. On 10 May the police came and interviewed her. As a result of the assault she suffered several bruises but she did not go to be examined by a forensic medical expert, and have the minor injuries properly documented, as she was unable to pay for this service. When she mentioned this to the officers who questioned her, Florence Balagiza was told that the police could not offer her any assistance “because it was not their business".
18 The officer’s identity is known to AI Florence Balagiza was not sure if her complaint had been registered officially as she was given no reports nor was she asked to sign any document. Several weeks later when she called the police to inquire about any progress in the investigation of her complaint the officers said they had nothing to report. On 2 June 2001 at a bus stop in Bankowy Square in Warsaw, Simon Moleke Njie, who is from Cameroon and has been granted asylum in Poland, and Dr Issa Amadou Tall, who is a Senegalese national visiting Poland as a guest of the Institute of Mathematics of the Polish Academy of Sciences, were approached by four men. One of the men told Dr Tall that they were going to meet the Polish football team, returning from a match in Norway. As one of the football players on the national team is of African origin, they assumed that they were being engaged in a friendly conversation. Suddenly one of the men hit Dr Issa Amadou Tall. Then the four men, one of whom had a wooden bat, surrounded Simon Moleke Njie and punched him while shouting: “Bamboo! Black whore!”. Following one of the punches on the head Simon Moleke Njie briefly lost consciousness. As a result of the blow his left eye was injured, impairing his vision. Simon Moleke Njie managed to stop a taxi, whose driver had witnessed some of the incident, and he and Dr Issa Amadou Tall went to the police station at Nowolipie 2, approximately 200 metres away from the bus stop where the assault took place. In front of the station there were three officers, none of whom wore any identification badge. One police officer reportedly laughed when he saw Simon Moleke Njie’s head injury. Another officer to whom Simon Moleke Njie complained about the attack, indicating that the perpetrators might still be at the bus stop, asked him for his passport and reportedly stated that Poles were also victims of aggression. They refused to call an ambulance or to take contact details for the taxi driver, as a witness of the assault, who waited in front of the Yüklə 1,36 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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