Andrei Braguta, 32, who suffered from mental disorders, died on August 27 while in police custody, where he was taken as a result of an incident in traffic. The subject was broadly debated after the disseminated video images showing how Andrei Braguta was mercilessly beaten by cellmates, while the remand prison guards seem to be doing nothing to stop them, scandalized public opinion. We discussed the developments in this case and the system changes that occurred with the family’s lawyer Vadim Vieru, of Promo-LEX Association.
– At what stage is the case, or, more exactly, the cases started on this incident?
– On February 28, 2018 it was six months of the death of Andrei Braguta. In the period, Promo-LEX Association and its lawyers who represent the relatives of Andrei in the civil and criminal proceedings at national level carried out litigation and advocacy activities at home and abroad so as to reveal the systemic problems that were identified as a result of Andrei’s death while in state custody. There were started four criminal cases. Two of them were sent to the competent courts, while the other two are at the investigation stage. The first case refers to the actions and inaction that led to the maltreatment of Andrei Braguta at the Chisinau Police Division’s remand prison on August 15 and 16, 2017. The case is being tried and we had already 14 hearings during which the evidence of the prosecution was examined. The second case remitted to court concerns the inaction of the police employees in terms of the detention of Andrei Braguta in degrading and inhuman conditions at the remand prison in August 2017. We had seven hearings in this case, but only two of these were productive. We are at an incipient stage. In the third case, it is investigated the quality of the medical assistance provided to Andrei Braguta. A complex medical-legal examination was already carried out here. The investigation will be completed soon and the case will be sent to court. The fourth case centers on the investigation of the actions of abuse of power.
At international level, Promo-LEX Association communicated the systemic problems revealed by the case of Braguta to the UN Committee against Torture on October 9, 2017. The report includes 40 recommendations for solving the systemic problems identified in the case of Andrei Braguta and other similar cases. The same problems were communicated to representatives of the Local Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Council of Europe, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and other international organizations. As a result, the Government was asked to take concrete measures in particular areas. This is for us probably the best result achieved in this case. These are the strong points. However, there are particular deficiencies that, in our opinion, create the impression of superficiality in the activity of some of the responsible entities.
– What kind of deficiencies do you mean?
– I refer to the police officers who deliberately transmitted video images to media outlets. It was a police leak to a news portal. By broadcasting edited video collages, the individual rights of the victim were seriously violated. By these images, they indirectly incited hatred towards persons with mental disabilities, person who take drugs, etc. This thing wasn’t investigated even if particular internal inquiries were announced. If there was an internal inquiry, its results weren’t made public. At governmental level, a working group was created at the Ministry of Justice, but it seems that without the involvement of civil society.
Even if the systemic problems in the case of Andrei Braguate were recognized as such by the representatives of the governmental delegation in the sessions of the UN Committee against Torture, no immediate action to solve the problems was taken.
– The judge who ordered the arrest of Andrei Braguta and the prosecutor in charge of the case were dismissed. Did you expect such a result?
– Yes, the Superior Council of Magistracy and the Prosecutor’s Office already pronounced on the disciplinary proceedings related to the actions and inaction of the prosecutor and judge in relation to Andrei Braguta. These were dismissed, but the dismissal decisions were challenged in court. We follow attentively the way in which these disciplinary proceedings go. Andrei’s father filed a complaint to the Ethics and Disciplinary Commission of the Lawyers Union of the Republic of Moldova about the quality of legal assistance. As far as I know, the Commission hasn’t pronounced on the complaint submitted by Andrei Braguta’s father.
Disciplinary proceedings were also instituted against employees of the Department of Penitentiary Institutions and the General Police Inspectorate. Also, Promo-LEX Association prepared a complaint that will be filed to the Council for the Prevention and Elimination of Discrimination and Ensuring of Equality about the discriminatory actions committed by representatives of the law enforcement agencies in relation to citizen Andrei Braguta. The Council is to pronounce and say if the actions by functionaries who managed the case included discrimination.
– Do you think the case of Braguta was so circulated because a man died in state custody or because of those videos showing how he was beaten?
– This case clearly showed how the legal system that interacted with a citizen caused a short circuit. There were a number of stages in this case. If they had intervened and each person had done their job, Andrei Braguta would have been alive now. He could have even continued to work as an engineer. For example, if the prosecutor hadn’t asked for an arrest warrant and had asked for Braguta to be admitted to a psychiatric medical institution, or if the judge had rejected the prosecutor’s request as it was evidently illegal, or if other players had fulfilled their duties appropriately, if Braguta had been placed in a cell alone and he wouldn’t have been maltreated by cellmates etc. a case of death in state custody wouldn’t have occurred. It was a short circuit from the beginning till the end. No one did their job because all the functionaries with whom he interacted acted in a stereotyped way and nonprofessionally.
– Before the case of Braguta, didn’t they know that persons with mental health problems are vulnerable in the penitentiary system? Can we say that the approaches have changed now?
– Earlier, such cases were treated superficially and the death of Andrei Braguta shows this. Now things changed, but not to the extent to which we would like. It is important that the prosecutors, judges, police officers and lawyers be trained and know how to correctly manage similar cases so that no one suffers as Andrei Braguta’s family suffers now.
– What changes do you think should be made first in terms of policies and actions?
– There should be worked out protocols so that the police officers and prosecutors know how to behave and what legal action should take in relation to persons suspected of mental disorders, etc. Also, we will continue to insist that there is no need to keep two parallel medical systems: a general one managed by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Protection, and another one in the penitentiary system, managed by the Ministry of Justice, where the quality standards are very different. The medical services of the penitentiary institutions or remand prisons should be managed by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Protection.
Last but not least, the practice of illegal and abusive arrests should be stopped.
Sabina Rebeja, IPN
