Policemen enjoy immunity when they should be punished for use of torture, expert

The policemen in Moldova enjoy immunity when they should be punished for use of torture. If no measures are taken, we will witness cases when a person who stole a sack of potatoes will serve six years in jail, while a police officer who tortured a person will be put on probation and will not be suspended, Cristina Pereteatcu, executive director of Amnesty International Moldova, said when presenting a report on the combating of torture and ill-treatment, Info-Prim Neo reports. The report “An unsolved problem: Combating of torture and ill-treatment in the Republic of Moldova” reiterates the system problems highlighted during the April 7, 2009 events, namely the excessive length of the period in custody and the inappropriate detention conditions, negligence by the prosecutors of complaints about the behavior of policemen. Heather McGill, researcher of Amnesty International for Moldova, said that all this results in the impunity of those who resort to torture and ill-treatment. She stated that during the April 7, 2009 protests the police arrested at least 600 persons, hundreds of them being beaten inside the crowded police stations. Only 58 of the 108 complaints submitted to the Prosecutor General’s Office were sent to court. The judges passed sentences in only two cases. In both of them, there were given suspended sentences. Nineteen police officers were acquitted. Some of the victims lost hope of finding justice at home and seek it at the European Court of Human Rights. “The continuous failure of the authorities to do justice in the cases concerning the flagrant violations committed in April 2009 is a clear proof that the major problem of impunity for torture and other kinds of ill-treatment hasn’t been resolved,” said the researcher. The authors of the report formulated a series of recommendations that can help the authorities combat this phenomenon. “All those who are responsible for the violations of human rights in April 2009 should be brought to trial, while the Penal Code article about torture should be amended so as to exclude the possibility of giving suspended sentences,” said Heather McGill. Amnesty International considers all the detainees should be subjected to medical examination when they are brought to police stations, while the detention period should not exceed 48 hours as the abuses are committed during the first hours of detention and the person may recover during 72 hours and be unable to prove something. Amnesty International calls upon the authorities to institute a fully independent agency that would investigate all the complaints about the violation of human rights by the police. The authorities were familiarized with these recommendations in the meetings held with officials of the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Justice, and the Center for Human Rights of Moldova before the presentation of the report. The report authors say the Prosecutor General’s Office ignored Amnesty International’s request to have a meeting and this is regrettable, according to the organization, as this institution is the first that is responsible for the investigation of the violations committed on April 7, 2009. The experts said the human rights violations show that there are system problems in the Moldovan justice.