Switzerland: Amnesty cause for concern
01 January 1991
Switzerland: Amnesty cause for concern
artdoc July=1995
19 APRIL 1994
SWITZERLAND: ALLEGATIONS OF ILL-TREATMENT IN POLICE CUSTODY:
A SUBSTANTIAL CAUSE FOR CONCERN
Amnesty International today said there was "substantial cause for
concern" about reports received over several years that police
officers in Switzerland have used deliberate and unwarranted
physical violence against people in their custody.
Tomorrow, the United Nations (UN) Committee against Torture
(CAT) will be examining a report submitted by the Swiss
Government about how it has implemented the UN Convention against
Torture in the country. An earlier report from Switzerland was
examined in Geneva in April 1989.
Amnesty International has drawn the Committee's attention
to its own report detailing its concerns regarding allegations
of police ill-treatment of detainees in Switzerland and hopes
that the Committee will take these into account when examining
the Swiss Government's submission.
The most common forms of ill-treatment reported are
repeated slaps, kicks and punches, heavy pressure on the windpipe
causing near-asphyxiation and enforced stripping for no apparent
reason except to cause humiliation. Many of the allegations
concern foreigners and Swiss citizens of non- European descent
and verbal racial abuse has been frequently reported in such
cases.
Michel Acquaroli, a 36-year-old Geneva architect, was
reportedly nearly asphyxiated by police on 21 April 1993, when
they came to his office regarding a small outstanding national
insurance (AVS) payment. When he suggested settling the matter
over the telephone and moved to the next room to make the call,
one of the officers reportedly twisted his arm violently and
pushed his knee into his back, making him fall to the floor.
The other officer handcuffed his wrists behind his back,
the first officer keeping his arm pressed so tightly around his
neck that he felt he was being strangled. His girlfriend, present
throughout the incident, stated that he was fighting for breath,
making a rattling noise in his throat, and became blue in the
face with his tongue hanging out and turning a purplish color.
The police ignored her pleas for them to stop.
The police have commonly responded to medical evidence of
injuries to detainees by stating that the injuries were sustained
while resisting arrest. There are claims that detainees are often
threatened with counter-charges of defamation or resisting state
officers when they indicate their intention of lodging a formal
complaint of ill- treatment.
For example, during his detention in a Geneva police
station, Acquaroli made a formal complaint against the police.
He said that while he was making his statement the two officers
who had assaulted him stood over the table and threatened him
with imprisonment if he persisted with his complaint. He received
a medical examination which noted injuries to his body and the
police then arrested him for resisting official actions, placed
him in a cell and made him strip naked.
Some ill-treated detainees are, therefore, reluctant to
identify themselves or to report their treatment to the
prosecuting authorities. Judicial and administrative
investigations into formal complaints of ill-treatment frequently
appear to lack thoroughness and very rarely result in
disciplinary or criminal sanctions against law enforcement
officers.
The reports of ill-treatment by police have come from
several cantons --a high proportion from the Canton of Geneva.
They originate from a variety of sources and their nature and
content are largely consistent. The Council of Europe's Committee
for the Prevention of Torture and other, non-governmental,
organizations such as the Geneva-based Association for the
Prevention of Torture and the Swiss Human Rights League, have
also reported receiving numerous such allega