Concerns in Europe January June 2001
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- Bu səhifədəki naviqasiya:
- Death in custody of António Fonseca
- Deaths in custody
Concerns in Europe: January - June 2001
Amnesty International September 2001 without being able either to reach the Spanish mainland or to return home without police permission. In some cases they had been waiting 11 months by the time of AI’s visit. It was highly probable that the climate of tension had contributed to outbursts of violence at the CETI. Several Nigerian nationals told AI delegates that they, and others, had been ill-treated by Civil Guards during previous attempts to reach Ceuta from Morocco by climbing or otherwise entering the border fence. “More than three” migrants had reportedly been injured by rubber bullets, fired in attempts to deter them from crossing the border. Civil Guards had also allegedly beaten and stripped some of the Nigerians, burned their clothes in front of them and hosed them with cold water in attempts to prevent them entering Ceuta.
Costa Rican woman alleges police ill-treatment
A Costa Rican student of anthropology, Marta Elena Arce Salazar, claimed that on Monday, 2 April, after being arrested in the Plaça de Catalunya in Barcelona, she was beaten and insulted by five or six National Police officers. Following her arrest, and at her request, Elena Arce was taken from the police station in the Rambla Nova to the Hospital del Mar in Drassanes, where she received medical treatment. A medical report issued by the hospital identified a number of haematoma and bruises on her body. She was then returned to the police station and held there overnight, sleeping on a mattress on the floor, without a blanket. She was reportedly refused permission to make a telephone call either to her lawyer or her tutor. On the Tuesday she was told that four police officers had accused her of attacking one of them with a little spray - which she claimed was in one of her jacket pockets and had been set off when she was thrown to the ground - and with attempting to resist arrest. At about 11pm she was taken to the prison of Verneda. On Wednesday morning she was taken before the judge of Court No. 3 in Barcelona. She was attended by a court doctor and taken back before the judge in the afternoon. At 8pm she was released, without bail, after being notified of a charge against her of “disobedience”. Elena Arce noted that she was arrested a few days after taking part in an immigrant occupation of the church of Santa María del Pi to demand rights for immigrants and changes to the new law on foreigners (generally referred to as the Ley de Extranjería). The arrest apparently took place after police officers, to whom the theft of a mobile telephone had been reported, had approached a group of immigrants who habitually gathered in the Plaça de Catalunya and asked them to produce all their mobile phones. Elena Arce had apparently entered into an argument with the officers. Other reports of ill-treatment in police custody were also received.
On 30 March the judge investigating the death in custody in Arrecife, Lanzarote (Canarias), on 20 May 2000, of António Augusto Fonseca Mendes closed the case, concluding that António Fonseca, a native of Guinea-Bissau, died of natural causes (update to AI Index: EUR 01/03/00 and EUR 01/001/2001). No charges were brought against the two National Police officers who had arrested him and taken him to the police station. The judge reportedly rejected as incomplete the findings of a well-known forensic expert who had been appointed by the Fonseca family to conduct a second autopsy, and who had concluded unequivocally that a fatal injury was dealt to the right side of the neck by a “blow with a blunt instrument”. The judge also rejected as unreliable the testimony of a man who claimed he had seen police officers beating António Fonseca at the police station. The judge’s decision appeared to leave open a number of questions relating to numerous contradictions in testimony. An appeal against the judge’s decision was filed by the lawyer for the Fonseca family.
S W E D E N
(update to AI Index: EUR 01/03/00 and EUR 01/001/2001)
The commission of inquiry, which was instituted by the government, into the procedures used during the criminal investigation following the controversial death of Osmo Vallo, began its work in January. Osmo Vallo died shortly after his arrest in Karlstad on 30 May 1995. He had been ill-treated by police officers (see AI Index: EUR 01/03/00 and EUR 01/001/2001). According to the terms of reference, the commission should complete its inquiry by the end of the year. AI representatives met in January with the Special Commissioner, Mats Svegfors and the Secretary of the Commission, Judge Katarina Persson, and briefed them on the organization’s concerns. In March the Supreme Court rejected the appeal by Osmo Vallo’s mother for a new trial, stating that there was no new evidence to justify it. The family’s lawyer was considering what further legal action could be taken.
(update to AI Index: EUR 01/001/2001)
reopen the preliminary investigation into the death of Peter Andersson, since the cause of death had not been sufficiently investigated. Peter Andersson died on 3 Nov 2000. He was arrested by two policemen and restrained and handcuffed, after reportedly resisting arrest. The policemen were said to have called for more reinforcements. While Peter Andersson was being restrained, his brother reportedly noticed that he was becoming unconscious. He was taken by an ambulance to the hospital in Örebro, where he was examined by a doctor and then transported, lying on
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