Germany: Police and racism
01 January 1991
Germany: Police and racism
artdoc April=1995
Amnesty International highlights police violence
Amnesty International has produced a dossier, covering the period
May-October 1994, detailing: a) allegations of torture or cruel,
inhumane or degrading treatment by the police; b) police failure
to deal with racially motivated crimes; c) the response of the
police to the above. Amongst issues it raises are:
· The treatment of Vietnamese detainees, principally asylum-
seekers, in the Länders of Berlin and Brandenburg, who allege
they were assaulted by officers on the streets, in police cars
and at police stations. A dossier of such cases, compiled over
one year, was sent to the authorities of both Länder in September
1994. The authorities in Brandenburg had not replied by the end
of October. But the Ministry of Justice in Berlin informed
Amnesty that criminal investigations had been launched in a total
of 53 cases where violence against Vietnamese detainees had been
alleged. Of these cases, twelve had been discontinued owing to
lack of evidence. In only two cases had charges been brought
against officers.
* Policing in Saxony-Anhalt, particularly the events of 12 May
1994 in Magdeburg when German neo-nazis went on the rampage. In
June 1994, Amnesty called upon the Saxony-Anhalt authorities to
conduct a thorough investigation into all aspects of Magdeburg
police's handling of the events of 12 May and for the results of
that investigation to be made public. It also documented several
other cases where the police's handling of racial violence had
been criticised. In July 1994, the ministry of internal affairs
of Saxony-Anhalt informed Amnesty International that the events
of 12 and 23 May were the subject of extensive criminal
investigations. · The closure of a police investigation into
allegations of ill-treatment by police officers of residents of
Gränitz refugee hostel. No charges were brought against any of
the riot police involved in a raid on the hostel. The
investigation concluded that the use by police officers of batons
was lawful and that the police raid was justified on the grounds
of suspected criminal activities on the part of hostel residents.
* Two senior police officers have been charged with `arson
through negligence' in connection with racist attacks on asylum-
seekers in Rostock in August 1992. By the end of October, it was
still not clear whether the two officers would face trial.
* Details of two deaths in custody in 1994.
On 30 June, Halim Dener, a 16-year-old Turkish Kurd was shot and
killed in Hannover. Halim Dener was putting up posters for the
PKK when he was apprehended by a police officer. Halim Dener, who
was not armed, was shot in the back by the officer and later died
in hospital of internal bleeding. The police version of events
was that this was an accidental shooting caused by the officer
responsible stumbling with his gun in his hand. But eye-witness
accounts speak of the officer deliberately aiming his gun at the
youth. An investigation is in progress.
Kola Bankole died on 30 August 1994 following an attempt by the
federal border police to deport him to Nigeria (see bulletin no.
11). The Frankfurt am Main public prosecutor's office has
launched an inquiry (AI Index: Eur 23/08-94).
Investigation into Hamburg police continues
According to Taz, the public prosecutor investigating racist
attacks by Hamburg police is seeking to cover up the police
actions. And there have been further allegations of police
violence, including allegations that the police have stripped
suspects and then attacked them with insect spray. Detainees,
arrested for alleged drug offences, have been forced to swallow
vomit-inducing substances, with no medical supervision provided
(Taz 15.11.94).
Law enforcement official sexually molested Vietnamese refugees
A court in the eastern German city of Frankfurt-on-Oder, on the
Polish border, has sentenced a law<