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
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PRESS RELEASE
27/7/1998
Greek NGOs request an inquiry on the murder of a Roma by police
With respect to the suspect conditions surrounding the death of a young Roma, named Angelos Tzelal, 29 years old, on 1 April 1998 in the region of Partheni of Thessaloniki, Greek Helsinki Monitor and Minority Rights Group - Greece, requested, in a letter of 27 July 1998, from the Minister of Public Order that a Sworn Administrative Inquiry (EDE) be carried out to establish the actual responsibility of the officers from the Police Station of Nea Chalkidona, who are said to have been involved in the shooting which ended up in the killing of the young Roma.
According to the family their son together with two of his friends was smoking hashish and, when they saw the policemen, ran away with their car being pursued by the police. The young man’s father, Mr. Panayote Tzelal, in the charges he brought against the Police, argued that none of the young men involved carried a gun. He states that his son was shot twice, once in his head and once in his back, which, if proven true, shows that the policemen could not claim that they were in “legitimate defense”. Following this our organizations consider that there are strong implications that the policemen involved undertook an illegal action against the victim, a murder.
The NGOs requested that the inquiry also examines why the police did not request at the time a forensic’s examination, as is established by law in cases of incidents leading to a death in a public place. In fact this is a procedure required also by case law of the European Court of Human Rights. Therefore, they consider necessary the exhumation of the body of Angelos Tzelal in order to establish the exact circumstances of his death and bring charges against policemen involved.
Greek Helsinki Monitor and Minority Rights Group - Greece have frequently denounced the attitude of the Greek police towards the Roma living in this country, which reveals strong racist tendencies towards this group. Last May they requested another internal inquiry in the police station of Mesolongi after alleged police violence against two young Roma. By mid-July, the inquiry has yet to be concluded, while the two Roma are pressured by police to withdraw the charges brought against the officers involved.
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
__________________________________________________________________________________
OPEN LETTER TO THE MINISTER OF PUBLIC ORDER
ON THE RESPONSIBILITY OF POLICEMEN FOR THE DEATH
OF A ROMA (ROMA) AND FOR ITS COVER UP
To the Minister of Public Order
Mr. George Romeos
Athens, 27/7/1998
Mr. Minister,
Starting with the conditions surrounding the death of the young Roma (Roma) Angelos Celal, which occurred on April 1, 1998, in Partheni Thessaloniki, and was caused by the cold-blooded shots of policemen chasing the car on board of which were the victim together with two friends of his, Vasilis Rasimoglou and Haris Frangoulis, we ask you to immediately order a Sworn Administrative Inquiry which will diagnose the eventual responsibilities of the policemen of the Police Station of Nea Halkidona.
Our organizations investigated the matter two months ago and a few days ago we received the complaint filed by the father of the victim. We heard statements that the young passengers of the car were not carrying guns and that Angelos Celal was shot with two bullets in the back (concretely in the head and in the spine) as proven by the broken back window of the car: notably if the last piece of evidence is verified, then the policemen are not allowed to claim «legitimate defense» even if they were under fire. After that, our organizations express well-founded suspicions that an illegal act has been committed against the victim, most specifically the act of homicide. All the more so, our organizations would like to remind you that already Panayotis Celal, father of the victim, has filed a complaint before the Public Prosecutor of Thessaloniki. The text of the complaint, as well as the statements of the relatives of the victim are herein enclosed.
Moreover, on the basis of the above information, it would be worthwhile, in the framework of the disciplinary inquiry, to additionally examine why the Police did not order at the time a forensic examination, as the legislation explicitly demands in the case of every death-provoking event occurring in public. Is it perhaps because the Police have covered up a possible homicide? Besides, relevant to this issue, there are already standing legal precedents of the European Court of Human Rights. Therefore, we estimate that, now, the exhumation of the corpse of Angelos Celal is necessary, so that the exact conditions of his death may be established through a forensic examination, and then responsibilities may be attributed accordingly to the offenders.
Finally, we would like to point out that the seriousness of this case, as it concerns the loss of a human life caused by an act of a state agents, demands instant decisions on your part. We also consider that the sworn administrative inquiry should be assigned to a public prosecutor, as, apart from the possible homicide, there are responsibilities on the part of police officials who until this day have covered up the case, perhaps thus clearing the policemen who maybe have committed this criminal act.
On the occasion, we point out to you the repeated accusations made by Roma as regards the systematic humiliating and violent police checks and we ask you to instruct policemen to strictly obey the relevant regulations and respect all the individuals they check, independent of their nationality or the cultural group to which they belong.
Please inform us the sooner possible on any advances.
With regards
Panayote Dimitras
Spokesperson
TEXT OF THE COMPLAINT
FILED BY
Panayotis Celal of Vasilios
resident of Lipohori, Skydra
Pella Prefecture
AGAINST
the policemen of the Police Station of
N. Halkidona and against any other
perpetrator or accomplice
Thessaloniki April 6, 1998
To the Public Prosecutor of Thessaloniki
THESSALONIKI
I am the father of Angelos Celal of Panayotis, resident of N. Halkidona, Thessaloniki, who, on April 1, 1998, in Partheni Thessaloniki was cold-bloodedly shot by policemen unknown to me and was assassinated with the absurd excuse that he allegedly together with two friends of him (Vasilios Rasimoglou and Haris Frangoulis) after stealing a car attacked the policemen and opened fire against them, and that the policemen returned the fire and killed my son, aged 29, married, father of a child, aged 1. I accuse the policemen because they cold-bloodedly shot my son and two of the many bullets they fired hit him at the head and the spine. It is not true that the friends of my son or he himself opened fire because they did not carry guns and the shots which the policemen fired, instead of hitting at least the tires of the car, were aimed at assassinating my son. It is enough to stress, as I was informed, that the shots were fired on the part of the policemen from a distance of 5-8 meters.
The area was isolated and if, as reported, the policemen’s aim was to arrest them - and as I shall prove, his friends came out of the car in order to urinate, u n a r m e d - instead of cold-bloodedly arresting the two persons who came out of the car and my son who was inside the car, the cold-bloodedly s h o t my son and murdered him.
One wonders why they did not arrest the two other friends of my son who left, one on foot and the other driving a car with a broken tire, if as reported (at least this was the information) my son and his two friends opened fire in order to kill the policemen. This excuse is a joke and I state that they met Vasilios Rasimoglou after a while in Halkidona and asked him «Wasn’t it you whom we wounded or killed?».
As I do not have any other evidence but only the inquiry which will be carried out by your department, the autopsy and the re-enactment of the conditions, in combination with the location of the allegedly stolen car belonging to the brother-in-law of my son, Prodromos Asimoglou, and of the guns the friends of my son and my son were allegedly carrying and used etc.
It is a pity, Mr. Public Prosecutor, for policemen to have shot a young man, because he had been accused in the past for petty-thefts. It is necessary, you who represent the Law, to find out the truth, otherwise I and my relatives will be left with the complaint that my son was not considered worth living because he was a Roma.
As witnesses, apart from those which the inquiry will call, I propose:
1. Vasilios Rasimoglou of Hristos, residents of Halkidona (shanty-town)
2. Haris Frangoulis of Vaios, resident of Halkidona.
3. Prodromos Asimoglou, resident of Dendropotamos, Kolokotroni 50 and
4. Vasilios Serif of Ioannis, resident of N. Halkidona.
I state that I shall be present as a plaintiff.
With regards
The plaintiff
EXTRACT FROM THE REPORT OF THE GREEK HELSINKI MONITOR ON THEIR TOUR AROUND THE ROMA SETTLEMENTS IN GREECE
MAY 3. The Greek Helsinki Monitor and the European Roma Rights Center, during our tour around the Roma settlements in the first ten days of May, we heard about the death of the Roma Angelos Celal, who was shot by policemen a month ago and so we went to Nea Halkidona to get more information. There we met Vasilis Serif father-in-law of Angelos Celal and his daughter Anastasia, wife of Angelos Celal. Vasilis Serif spoke to us about the case:
«On April 1, 1998, at 8 o’ clock p.m., three persons, Angelos Celal, Vasilis Rasimoglou and Haris Frangoulis, residents of Nea Halkidona, all three relatives, took the car and left towards the marsh nearby the fields. They wanted to go to Parthenio. The guys had hashish with them and they wanted to smoke it. They went near a warehouse by the marsh, they drove past it and then decided to stop and smoke a cigarette (they had hashish for three cigarettes). They opened the hashish on the hood of the car to prepare the cigarettes. The policemen were hiding inside the warehouse and were following a stolen car, unknown to the guys. There, a policeman opened fire and the guys got in the car trying to leave. Angelos was driving. The policemen kept on shooting. One bullet hit him at the back and the other at the head. The back window of the car was broken and two more bullets hit the metal body of the car. Haris pushed Angelos, who had been hit, away from the wheel and took the car and drove it to the settlement where he told me «they killed your son-in-law». Angelos was dead. He was 28 years old and left an orphan behind, a little child aged 1. We took him to the Yannitsa Hospital and from there he was transferred to the AHEPA Hospital of Thessaloniki. We issued a certificate and buried him near Yannitsa. His father Panayotis Celal has the death certificate; he went to the Public Prosecutor and filed a complaint. The other two guys are hiding. Haris is accused of opening fire. The guys did not carry guns.».
Apart from this statement, M. Celal has told us that policemen stop the Roma on the road as they drive to reach their works, oblige them to get off the car, press them down with the feet on their back to keep them lying on the ground and stick the gun on their temple in order to search them. They also do this to women and children. He himself has experienced this treatment 10 times in a month. Similar descriptions of police controls were made by tens of Roma in most of the 30 settlements we have visited all over Greece.
