INCIDENT OF ILL-TREATMENT OF UNDERAGE ROMA BY POLICE OFFICERS

GREEK HELSINKI MONITOR

& MINORITY RIGHTS GROUP - GREECE

P.O. Box 51393, GR-14510 Kifisia, Greece; tel. 30-1-620.01.20; fax: 30-1-807.57.67;

e-mail: office@greekhelsinki.gr      http://www.greekhelsinki.gr/

 

 

OPEN LETTER TO THE MINISTER OF PUBLIC ORDER

 

TOPIC: INCIDENT OF ILL-TREATMENT OF UNDERAGE ROMA BY POLICE OFFICERS

 

 

To the attention of the Minister of Public Order Georgios Romeos

 

11/5/98

 

Dear Mr. Romeos,

 

Our cooperating organizations would like to bring to your attention two specific cases of ill-treatment of underage Roma during their detention on 8/5/98 by police officers of the Police Department of Mesologgi in Etoloakarnania. In the 9/5/98 opinion of the medical examiner of the city of Patras, Mr. Orfeas Peridis (25 Kolokotroni Street, Patra), the underage persons Lazaros Bekos and Lefteris Kotropoulos (17 and 18 years old respectively) have “medium body damages inflicted with a broken instrument 24 hours ago.” This proves in the clearest way that the ill-treatment took place during the time of the young people’s detention at the Police Station of Mesologgi.

 

During their expedition around Roma settlements all over Greece, members of our organization and representatives of the European Roma Rights Center managed to meet the two Roma victims. The latter claimed - and their claims were supported by the visible bruises on their backs - that after they were arrested, the policemen started  hitting their backs with a gun, a globe and a piece of iron, and kicking the front part of their bodies. The underage Roma also stressed the fact that the Deputy Director of Security kept asking them to name the place which a third person used for selling hashish, while threatening them with further beating.

 

After their refusal to disclose any information, the Roma got numerous kicks by Security plainclothesmen who were shouting “you will die here.” On the next morning (9/5/98) the arrested Roma were again beaten and then taken to the District Attorney, who scheduled their trial for next Fall.

 

One other fact is also worth mentioning. During their stay in the Police Station, the two detainees were not allowed to phone their relatives.

 

We would also like to mention that during our fact-finding mission all over Greece we managed to gather some thirty oral testimonies concerning similar ill-treatment. Our organizations have undertaken the legal support and the continuing monitoring of the case of the two underage Roma in Mesologgi.

 

Keeping in mind all the above, we would like to ask you to get personally involved in this case, so that the relative administrative examination be carried out as soon as possible. The persons responsible for this unacceptable cruelty should be suspended from their duties as officers immediately, and then get the punishment they deserve according to the laws. Apart from that, all necessary measures  should be taken, so that the two underage Roma and the other Roma would not be submitted to new blackmailing from the policemen of the area.

 

We also think that clear and detailed instructions about the treatment of Roma should be sent to all Police Stations of the country. These should include directions related to street control, as well as to the whole procedure of taking Roma to court.

 

Finally, our organizations would like to stress that the above incident of arbitrary police behavior happens at the start of Greece’s presidency of the Council of Europe. As could be naturally expected, this event may provoke unfavorable impressions and well-founded criticism internationally.