Concerns in Europe January June 2001
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- Bu səhifədəki naviqasiya:
- Reports of use of firearms by police officers
- Prisoners of conscience
Concerns in Europe: January - June 2001
Amnesty International September 2001 On 25 April at around 10pm, Paul Surdu, a 22 year old man detained in Rahova prison in Bucharest, was taken to the dentist’s surgery for treatment of a toothache. After the medical assistant on duty reportedly stated that she did not have any pain-killers, Paul Surdu insisted that he should be taken to a hospital providing emergency services. Ten prison guards then came to the surgery, put him in handcuffs and took him to the isolation cell. Between 2am and 3am the officer on duty and four other guards came into the cell and reportedly punched and kicked him on the head and the abdomen, spat at him, insulted him and stuffed the bed sheet in his mouth to make him stop screaming. In the morning, following a visit from the medical assistant, Paul Surdu was taken to a hospital. He has subsequently complained to the Rahova prison management and to the Military prosecutor. As a result he has reportedly been harassed by prison guards and the prison authorities have reportedly failed to take any measures to ensure his safety.
An article published in Ziua, a Bucharest daily newspaper, on 2 February 2001 reported on the death of 20-year-old Valentin Carolin Stanciu who had been in detention in a Bucharest police station following arrest on 29 January on suspicion of having committed a theft from a car. On 1 February at 4am, because he was reportedly experiencing respiratory problems, he was taken to Sf. Pantelimon hospital where he died shortly afterwards. Hospital sources reportedly revealed that Valentin Carolin Stanciu had been suffering from drug dependency. AI is concerned that the death of Valentin Carolin Stanciu might have resulted from lack of adequate medical treatment following his arrest and has asked the Romanian authorities for a full report of the investigation which is currently under way. The organization also urged the authorities to ensure that this investigation determines whether Valentin Carolin Stanciu had been examined by a doctor following his arrest, and if so what medical treatment had been prescribed for his drug dependency; and whether the conditions in the police station were adequate for the administration of the prescribed treatment.
in violation of international principles
There were several new reports of police shooting in circumstances which are at variance with international principles. In one case the victim died as a result of the shooting. In the afternoon of 26 April 2001, Alexandru Mihai Dombi, accompanied by two other men, was driving a car on the outskirts of Oradea. When they were stopped by a traffic police patrol Alexandru Mihai Dombi failed to present his driving licence and was asked to leave with the officers his identity card, which he could later collect from the police station. The men then continued the journey into town but after the car engine stalled they proceeded on foot to the nearby railway station where they arrived at around 7.30pm. Among the crowd at the station, they saw a large number of police officers. Alexandru Mihai Dombi started to run along the railway tracks. A police officer who was later identified as Lieutenant S. reportedly shouted: “Stop or I will shoot”. He and another officer then shot Alexandru Mihai Dombi, hitting him in the head. Other police officers on the crowded platform reportedly also fired shots. At the time of the incident the railway station was reportedly surrounded by the police and the tracks along which Dombi had been running terminated at a very tall wall. According to the police version of the incident the officers who stopped the car driven by Alexandru Mihai Domba subsequently realized that he was a wanted person, in order to serve the remainder of a suspended sentence for fraud. On 28 June the Chamber of Deputies adopted a draft law on the organization and functioning of the Romanian police. This draft which will be considered by the Senate later in the year failed to bring the provision on the use of firearms into line with UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms.
R U S S I A N F E D E R A T I O N
Prisoners of conscience
(update to AI Index: EUR 01/01/2001)
The re-trial of Grigory Pasko began on 11 July in the Military Court of the Pacific Fleet. Public access to the courtroom was only allowed for the first few minutes, on the grounds of national security. The trial had been scheduled to start on 22 March, but on that day Pasko and his lawyers waited for 40 minutes before finding out that their request to postpone the trial had been accepted. The trial was postponed to 4 June, then 20 June
(because of
the procurator's "family obligations"), then 11 July (no explanation was given). The new trial is a result of the November 2000 decision of the Military Collegium of Russia’s Supreme Court to order the Military Court of the Pacific Fleet to reconsider Grigory Pasko’s case. The decision was taken after a treason charge against him was dismissed and he was released, under an amnesty, from a three-year sentence handed down for the lesser offence of abuse of office. Grigory Pasko’s appeal against the latter sentence was turned down.
Russian federal forces detained Dik Altemirov, former Minister for Tourism and Sport in the Chechen government, and a former Vice-President of the Chechen Republic, in Grozny on 24 May and held him for about two days. The official reason for his arrest was suspected involvement in the activities of Chechen armed groups. However, AI believed that Dik Altemirov was being held solely for the peaceful Yüklə 1,36 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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