Police ill-treatment plagues Bosnia and Herzegovina
Cell in Doboj prison
© Amnesty International
6 February 2008
Police and prison guards in Bosnia and Herzegovina ill-treat prisoners with almost total impunity, according to a new Amnesty International report.
Prisoner interviews conducted by Amnesty International have exposed a culture of impunity and intimidation that keeps information about ill-treatment penned inside the walls of police stations and prisons.
"The authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina are failing to prevent ill-treatment. Beatings often go unreported and uninvestigated as victims are afraid of reprisals, while complaints are not acted upon," said David Diaz-Jogeix, Deputy Director of Amnesty International's Europe and Central Asia programme.
Amnesty International has urged the authorities to send a clear message that ill-treatment in prisons and by police officers will not be tolerated.
The cycle of ill-treatment may start at the time of arrest and continue in the police station and, after sentencing, in prison. Amnesty International delegates spoke to inmates in detention facilities, including police stations and prisons, during a visit to the country in June 2007.
One man arrested in Prijedor in Republika Srpska (one of the two entities comprising Bosnia and Herzegovina) revealed: "I was arrested, they brought me to the police station... They began with slaps and then they started beating me."
A video from October 2006 showed a man in uniform, thought to be a member of the Sarajevo Canton Police, repeatedly kicking and hitting a young man near what appears to be a police car. The victim was forced to strip naked while the beating continued and was later left unconscious in the street.
In jail, prison guards were reported to have beaten prisoners in isolation cells with truncheons. Yet no prison guards suspected of ill-treatment have been charged in recent years.
There is no effective system to address police misconduct and the police force is seemingly unable - or unwilling - to police itself. Prosecutors are also to blame. The law states they should initiate a criminal investigation whenever they suspect police ill-treatment, but this rarely happens.
"Ongoing discussion about police reform must address the problem of lack of police accountability and its human rights consequences. An effective prison oversight system also needs to be established" David Diaz-Jogeix said.
“The authorities must ensure that prosecutors initiate a prompt, independent, impartial and thorough investigation whenever there are grounds to suspect an act of torture or other ill-treatment”.
Prisoner interviews conducted by Amnesty International have exposed a culture of impunity and intimidation that keeps information about ill-treatment penned inside the walls of police stations and prisons.
"The authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina are failing to prevent ill-treatment. Beatings often go unreported and uninvestigated as victims are afraid of reprisals, while complaints are not acted upon," said David Diaz-Jogeix, Deputy Director of Amnesty International's Europe and Central Asia programme.
Amnesty International has urged the authorities to send a clear message that ill-treatment in prisons and by police officers will not be tolerated.
The cycle of ill-treatment may start at the time of arrest and continue in the police station and, after sentencing, in prison. Amnesty International delegates spoke to inmates in detention facilities, including police stations and prisons, during a visit to the country in June 2007.
One man arrested in Prijedor in Republika Srpska (one of the two entities comprising Bosnia and Herzegovina) revealed: "I was arrested, they brought me to the police station... They began with slaps and then they started beating me."
A video from October 2006 showed a man in uniform, thought to be a member of the Sarajevo Canton Police, repeatedly kicking and hitting a young man near what appears to be a police car. The victim was forced to strip naked while the beating continued and was later left unconscious in the street.
In jail, prison guards were reported to have beaten prisoners in isolation cells with truncheons. Yet no prison guards suspected of ill-treatment have been charged in recent years.
There is no effective system to address police misconduct and the police force is seemingly unable - or unwilling - to police itself. Prosecutors are also to blame. The law states they should initiate a criminal investigation whenever they suspect police ill-treatment, but this rarely happens.
"Ongoing discussion about police reform must address the problem of lack of police accountability and its human rights consequences. An effective prison oversight system also needs to be established" David Diaz-Jogeix said.
“The authorities must ensure that prosecutors initiate a prompt, independent, impartial and thorough investigation whenever there are grounds to suspect an act of torture or other ill-treatment”.
Bosnia and Herzegovina: “Better keep quiet”: ill-treatment by the police and in prisons
Index Number: EUR 63/001/2008Date Published: 7 February 2008
Categories: Bosnia-herzegovina
This report details Amnesty International’s concerns with regard to ill-treatment by the police forces and in prison establishments in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). It raises concern about the failures of the authorities to take measures to safeguard against ill-treatment, and to ensure adequate medical care and adequate conditions for persons deprived of their liberty. It highlights the obligations placed on the BiH authorities under international law to prohibit torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
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