Amnesty report on Europe (1)
01 January 1991
Amnesty report on Europe
artdoc August=1993
The annual report of Amnesty International says that: `1992 was
an appalling year for human rights in Europe' and that in many
cases the root cause was racism. In France, for example, there
were allegations of ill-treatment in police custody, often
concerning immigrants or French citizens of North African origin.
Jacques Cherigui, of Franco-Algerian parentage, was reportedly
kicked and punched by police officers, who subjected him to
racial abuse. No judicial inquiry has been made into his official
complaints and there has been no result from an internal police
inquiry.
Roma (travellers) were frequent victims of police racism the
report says. In Bulgaria in June 1992 police officers allegedly
tortured and ill-treated Roma when they surrounded a Romany
community to search houses for arms and check identification.
They allegedly used truncheons and sticks to beat men, women and
children indiscriminately and the inhabitants of one house were
made to stand against a wall and told they would be shot. In
Romania and the Czech and Slovak Republics there were reports of
security forces torturing and ill-treating Roma.
In Portugal, Spain and Italy allegations of torture and ill-
treatment in police custody or prisons became more frequent and
many appear to have been inadequately investigated. In Greece
several conscientious objectors to military service were reported
to have been ill-treated while in detention and in September 1992
Manolis Tsapelis died a month after police headbutted him in the
stomach. An autopsy recorded the cause of death as an embolism
following an operation on a spleen injured in a fall or beating.
In Turkey, torture continued to be a `very serious problem' and
at least 13 people died in custody reportedly as a result of
torture. More than 200 people were killed in `extrajudicial
executions' mainly in the Kurdish southeast of Turkey.
Statewatch vol 3 no 4 July-August 1993