Σήμερα, 30-06-2009, εκδόθηκε η αναφορά του Συμβουλίου της Ευρώπης – Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) – για την επίσκεψη της επιτροπής στη χώρα μας το Σεπτέμβριο του 2008. Αντιγράφω μερικά αποσπάσματα:
10. In the course of the visit, the CPT’s delegation received a considerable number of allegations of ill-treatment of persons held by law enforcement officials under suspicion of having committed a criminal offence.Η ελληνική κυβέρνηση απαντάει:
The alleged ill-treatment consisted mostly of kicks, punches and blows with batons, often inflicted during questioning. Certain allegations also referred to the use of excessive force at the time of arrest. In addition, a few persons claimed that they had been threatened with various objects; for instance, at the Thessaloniki Monasteriou Police Station a man alleged that during a search of his house a police officer had threatened him by holding a hot electric iron close to his head. Another person claimed that, at the Omonia Square Police Station, he had been forced to undress and was then ridiculed by police officers.
[…]
12. In a number of cases, the delegation’s doctors found that the persons concerned displayed injuries which were consistent with their allegations of ill-treatment; for example, the CPT would like to refer to the following case:
On 23 September at around 21h00, the CPT’s delegation met a foreign national detained in Omonia Square Police Station, who complained of severe pain in the head and in one of his fingers. The man alleged that the pain in both the head and the finger resulted from having been beaten by police officers during questioning at the police station earlier that day.
The medical examinations carried out later that night showed that the man had very recently suffered a fracture of the right zygomatic arch, as well as a fractured finger; these findings were consistent with his allegations.
[…]
15. […] The CPT calls upon the Greek authorities to ensure that, whenever criminal suspects brought before a judge allege ill-treatment by law enforcement officials, the judge records the allegations in writing, orders immediately a forensic medical examination and takes the necessary steps to ensure that the allegations are properly investigated. Such an approach should be followed whether or not the person concerned bears visible external injuries. Further, even in the absence of an express allegation of ill-treatment, the judge should request a forensic medical examination whenever there are other grounds to believe that a person brought before him could have been the victim of ill-treatment.
The Greek Authorities express their disappointment, given the fact that the Committee’s Report mentions “allegations” and “interviews” and is not able – even if we were to accept that these allegations were true – to come up with results for the overall picture, since these are only individual incidents out of thousands of irregular migrants managed by our Country.
Such allegations expressed by the Committee remain at the level of “interview”; we do not question the process of their testimony, but they still remain individual incidents (without any official complaint to the authorities), which nevertheless lead to negative conclusions against us.
Concerning the “detainment of persons by law enforcement officers based on the suspicion that they have committed a penal offence”, no-one is detained merely on the basis of a suspicion, because it is proven that they have entered our country illegally.
Concerning the allegations about maltreating people with “kicks, punches, beating with a club, etc.” we comment that our country is being accused of maltreatment during arrest and interrogation with a series of generalisms (general and unclear allegations). These allegations, without any evidence, which only the courts are permitted to judge, accuse an entire country. These are individual incidents; if they did actually happen there must be evidence, about when they happened, why they were not reported, etc., so as to consider them seriously and proceed with their investigation. The Hellenic Police express their strong will to investigate them.
Υπόθεση εργασίας: Αντί της υπόθεσης μιας διεθνούς συνωμοσίας σε βάρος της χώρας μας, μήπως θα έπρεπε να αναλάβουμε τις ευθύνες μας και να δεσμευτούμε ξεκάθαρα για τη βελτίωση αυτής της απαράδεκτης κατάστασης; Είναι βάσιμη νομίζω η πιθανότητα να υπάρχει κάποια βάση σε αυτές τις κατηγορίες και να πρέπει να αναζητηθούν οι ευθύνες άμεσα, όπως και να προβεί η χώρα μας στις απαραίτητες δομικές αλλαγές ώστε να αποφύγουμε τέτοια ‘μεμονωμένα’ περιστατικά στο μέλλον.
- Διαβάστε την αναφορά της CPT εδώ: Report to the Government of Greece on the visit to Greece carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 23 to 29 September 2008
- Διαβάστε την απάντηση της κυβέρνησης εδώ: Response of the Government of Greece to the report of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) on its visit to Greece from 23 to 29 September 2008 (pdf)
