[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 112 (Friday, August 3, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1545-E1546]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              TORTURE AND POLICE ABUSE IN THE OSCE REGION

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, August 2, 2001

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, over the July Fourth recess, I 
had the privilege of participating in the U.S. Delegation to the OSCE 
Parliamentary Assembly's annual meeting held in Paris, where I 
introduced a resolution on the need for the OSCE participating States--
all of our States--to intensify our efforts to combat torture, police 
abuse, and racial profiling. This resolution, adopted and included the 
Assembly's final Declaration, also calls for greater protection for 
non-governmental organizations, medical personnel, and others who treat 
the victims of torture and report on their human rights violations. The 
resolution also condemns the insidious practice of racial profiling, 
which has the effect of leaving minorities more vulnerable to police 
abuse. Finally, my resolution calls for the OSCE participating States 
to adopt, in law and in practice, a complete ban on incommunicado 
detention.
  Tragically, recent news reports only underscore how urgent the 
problem of police abuse is. I would like to survey a few of the reports 
received by the Helsinki Commission in recent weeks.
  First, on July 7 in Slovakia, the body of Karol Sendrei, a 51-year-
old Romani father, was returned to his family. The convoluted account 
of his death has included mutual recriminations among police officers 
and, so far, has led to the resignation of the mayor of Magnezitovce 
and indictments against three police officers. While much remains to be 
sorted out, this much is clear: On July 5, Mr. Sendrei was taken into 
police custody. The next day, he died of injuries, including shock 
caused by a torn liver, cranial and pericardial bleeding, and broken 
jaw, sternum, and ribs. According to reports, Mr. Sendrei had been 
chained to a radiator and beaten over for the last twelve hours of his 
life.
  The deaths in police custody of Lubomir Sarissky in 1999 and now Mr. 
Sendrei, persistent reports of police abuse in villages like 
Hermanovce, and the reluctance of the police and judicial system to 
respond seriously to racially motivated crimes have all eroded trust in 
law enforcement in Slovakia. As Americans know from first-hand 
experience, when the public loses that trust, society as a whole pays 
dearly.
  I welcome the concern for the Sendrei case reflected in the 
statements of Prime Minister Dzurinda, whom I had the chance to meet at 
the end of May, and others in his cabinet. But statements alone will 
not restore confidence in the police among Slovakia's Romani community. 
Those who are responsible for this death must be held fully accountable 
before the law. I will continue to follow this case, along with the 
trials of the three men still being prosecuted for the murder of 
Anastazia Balazova last year.

  Although it has received far less press attention, in Hungary, a 
Romani man was also shot and killed on June 30 by an off-duty police 
officer in Budapest; one other person was injured in that shooting. 
While the police officer in that case has been arrested, too often 
reports of police misconduct in Hungary are ignored or have been 
countered with a slap on the wrist. I remain particularly alarmed by 
the persistent reports of police brutality in Hajduhadhaz and police 
reprisals against those who have reported their abuse to the Helsinki 
Commission. In one case, a teenager in Hajduhadhaz who had reported 
being abused by the police was detained by the police again--after his 
case had been brought to the attention of the Helsinki Commission, and 
after Helsinki Commission staff had raised it with the Hungarian 
Ambassador. In an apparent attempt to intimidate this boy, the police 
claimed to have a ``John Doe'' criminal indictment for ``unknown 
persons'' for damaging the reputation of Hungary abroad. These are 
outrageous tactics from the communist-era that should be ended.
  I urge Hungarian Government officials to look more closely at this 
problem and take greater efforts to combat police abuse. I understand 
an investigation has begun into possible torture by a riverbank patrol 
in Tiszabura, following reports that police in that unit had forced a 
14-year-old Romani boy into the ice-cold waters of the Tisza river. 
There are now reports that this unit may have victimized other people 
as well. I am hopeful this investigation will be transparent and 
credible and that those who have committed abuses will be held fully 
accountable.
  In the Czech Republic, lack of confidence in law enforcement agents 
has recently led some Roma to seek to form their own self-defense 
units. Frankly, this is not surprising. Roma in the Czech Republic 
continue to be the target of violent, racially motived crime: On April 
25, a group of Roma were attacked by German and Czech skinheads in Novy 
Bor. On June 30, 4 skinheads attacked a group of Roma in Ostrava; one 
of the victims of that attack was repeatedly stabbed, leaving his life 
in jeopardy. On July 16, three men shouting Nazi slogans attacked a 
Romani family in their home in As in western Bohemia. On July 21, a 
Romani man was murdered in Svitavy by a man who had previously 
committed attacks against Roma, only to face a slap on the wrist in the 
courts.
  These cases follow a decade in which racially motivated attacks 
against Roma in the Czech Republic have largely been tolerated by the 
police. Indeed, in the case of the murder of Milan Lacko, a police 
officer was involved. More to the point, he ran over Milan Lacko's body 
with his police car, after skinheads beat him and left him in the road. 
In another case, involving a 1999 racially motivated attack on another 
Romani man, the Czech Supreme Court issued a ruling that the attack was 
premeditated and organized, and then remanded the case back to the 
district court in Jesenik for sentencing in accordance with that 
finding. But the district court simply ignored the Supreme Court's 
finding and ordered four of the defendants released. Under 
circumstances such as these, is it any wonder that Roma so lack 
confidence in the police and judiciary that they feel compelled to 
defend themselves?

  I am not, however, without hope for the Czech Republic. Jan Jarab, 
the Czech Government's Human Rights Commissioner, has spoken openly and 
courageously of the human rights problems in his country. For example, 
the Czech News Agency recently reported that Jarob had said that ``the 
Czech legal system deals `benevolently' with attacks committed by 
right-wing extremists, `[f]rom police investigators, who do not want to 
investigate such cases as racial crimes, to state attorneys and judges, 
who pass the lowest possible sentences.' '' I hope Czech political 
leaders--from every party and every walk of life--will support Jan 
Jarab's efforts to address the problems he so rightly identified.
  Clearly, problems of police abuse rarely if ever go away on their 
own. On the contrary, I believe that, unattended, those who engage in 
abusive practices only become more brazen and shameless. When two 
police officers in Romania were accused of beating to death a suspect 
in Cugir in early July, was it really a shock? In that case, the two 
officers had a history of using violent methods to interrogate 
detainees--but there appears to have been no real effort to hold them 
accountable for their practices.
  I am especially concerned by reports from Amnesty International that 
children are among the possible victims of police abuse and torture in 
Romania. On March 14, 14-year-old Vasile Danut was detained by police 
in Vladesti and beaten severely by police. On April 5, 15-year-old 
loana Silaghi was reportedly attacked by a police officer in Oradea. 
Witnesses in the case have reportedly also been intimidated by the 
police. In both cases, the injuries of the children were documented by 
medical authorities. I urge the Romanian authorities to conduct 
impartial investigations into each of these cases and to hold fully 
accountable those who may be found guilty of violating the law.
  Mr. Speaker, as is well-known to many Members, torture and police 
abuse is a particularly widespread problem in the Republic of

[[Page E1546]]

Turkey. I have been encouraged by the willingness of some public 
leaders, such as parliamentarian Emre Kocaoglu, to acknowledge the 
breadth and depth of the problem. Acknowledging the existence of 
torture must surely be part of any effort to eradicate this abuse in 
Turkey.
  I was therefore deeply disappointed by reports that 18 women, who at 
a conference last year publicly described the rape and other forms of 
torture meted out by police, are now facing charges of ``insulting and 
raising suspicions about Turkish security forces.'' This is, of course, 
more than just a question of the right to free speech--a right clearly 
violated by these criminal charges. As one conference participant said, 
``I am being victimized a second time.'' Turkey cannot make the problem 
of torture go away by bringing charges against the victims of torture, 
by persecuting the doctors who treat torture victims, or by trying to 
silence the journalists, human rights activists, and even members of 
Turkey's own parliament who seek to shed light on this dark comer. The 
charges against these 18 women undermine the credibility of the Turkish 
Government's assertion that it is truly seeking to end the practice of 
torture and hope these charges will be dropped.

  Finally, Mr. Speaker, I would like to draw attention to the case of 
Abner Louima in New York, whose case has come to light again in recent 
weeks. In 1997, Abner Louima was brutally, and horrifically tortured by 
police officials; he will suffer permanent injuries for the rest of his 
life because of the damage inflicted in a single evening. Eventually, 
New York City police officer Justin Volpe pleaded guilty and is serving 
a 30-year sentence for his crimes. Another officer was also found 
guilty of participating in the assault and four other officers were 
convicted of lying to authorities about what happened. On July 12, 
Abner Louima settled the civil suit he had brought against New York 
City and its police union.
  There has been no shortage of ink to describe the $7.125 million that 
New York City will pay to Mr. Louima and the unprecedented settlement 
by the police union, which agreed to pay an additional $1.625 million. 
What is perhaps most remarkable in this case is that Mr. Louima had 
reached agreement on the financial terms of this settlement months ago. 
He spent the last 8 months of his settlement negotiations seeking 
changes in the procedures followed when allegations of police abuse are 
made.
  As the Louima case illustrated, there is no OSCE participating State, 
even one with long democratic traditions and many safeguards in place, 
that is completely free from police abuse. Of course, I certainly don't 
want to leave the impression that the problems of all OSCE countries 
are more or less alike--they are not. The magnitude of the use of 
torture in Turkey and the use of torture as a means of political 
repression in Uzbekistan unfortunately distinguish those countries from 
others. But every OSCE participating State has an obligation to prevent 
and punish torture and other forms of police abuse and I believe every 
OSCE country should do more.

                          ____________________