Police ill treatment of African deportee
On April 7th, 2006, 33 years old Bakary J. from Gambia should have been deported to his country of origin. The pilot of the Belgian airline SN Brussels refused to depart with the Gambian man on board against his will. Instead of bringing the deportee back to the police detention centre, the four police officers belonging to the Special Police Force who accompanied him brought him to a warehouse used by the Special Police Force for training purposes. There, as stated by Bakary J., all four policemen beat him up and threatened him with his execution. The four policemen were suspended and the Human Rights Advisory Board was informed. The public prosecutor started preliminary investigations against the police officers being accused of torturing a detainee and hazardous threat. In turn, the police officers accused the deportee of resistance to state authority.
The case of Bakary J. brought the issue of deportations into intense public debate. Especially the Aliens’ Rights Package came under fire from several politicians and human rights experts.
On November 20th, 2009, all four police officers were convicted by the disciplinary senior committee. Two of the police officers were removed from office, one was sentenced to the maximum financial penalty and one police officer, who had been retired in the meantime, was deprived of all entitlements and claims stemming from his employment as a police officer.
Source:
http://www.ots.at/presseaussendung.php?schluessel=OTS_20060420_OTS0214&ch=politik (2011-10-05)
http://no-racism.net/article/1632/ (2011-10-05)
http://diepresse.com/home/panorama/oesterreich/531590/Fall-Bakary-J_Zwei-Beamte-werden-entlassen (2011-10-05).
