[hr-law-enforcement] Violations against civilians by police in Greece highlighted in report
HREA
Amnesty International Press release
31 March 2009
An
Amnesty International briefing published on Monday highlights patterns of
alleged human rights violations by Greek police against civilians. These
include excessive use of force and firearms, torture or other
ill-treatment, arbitrary detention and denial of prompt access to lawyers.
The events during the violent demonstrations that rocked Greece
in recent months are currently coming under police and judicial
investigations. As its report was launched, Amnesty International called on
the Greek authorities to take the opportunity to address long-standing
problems of policing.
"Time and again police officers in
Greece have been accused of using excessive force against demonstrators or
denying them their rights when in detention," said Nicola Duckworth,
Europe and Central Asia Programme Director at Amnesty International.
"The police response to the recent unrest is the culmination of an
entrenched pattern of serious human rights violations by law enforcement
officials."
The killing of 15-year-old Alexis
Gregoropoulos by an officer serving as a special guard on 6 December 2008
sparked widespread demonstrations that in many cases developed into riots.
Amnesty International has been receiving mounting allegations
of violations by police in the context of the demonstrations in December
and January 2009.
The organization has brought a number of
cases from December and January to the attention of the Minister of the
Interior, Prokopis Pavlopoulos. Police officers were said to have
arbitrarily arrested, ill-treated and detained peaceful demonstrators as
well as civilians reportedly not involved in demonstrations. Detainees,
including minors, were prevented from promptly contacting their lawyers.
"These incidents should be used as a catalyst by the
government to launch a wide-ranging commission of inquiry that would
investigate not only recent events but also systemic issues, including
training of police on the use of firearms and of force," Nicola
Duckworth said
"The people of Greece have the right to
proper policing in accordance with the government’s national and
international obligations."
HREA - www.hrea.org
Human Rights Education Associates (HREA) is an international non-governmental organisation that supports human rights learning; the training of activists and professionals; the development of educational materials and programming; and community-building through on-line technologies.
--
To unsubscribe from this list visit this link
To update your preferences visit this link
