Exercise of police violence, its continuous demonstration

According to the data released in press and in the media a group of youngsters from Tirana while on vacation in Golem is cruelly treated by a group of policemen headed by the Chief of the Police Station of Kavaja on Sunday July, 7. In the denouncement presented to the General Prosecutor’s Office, the youngsters in question qualify this event as ‘an unscrupulous and indecent example of violence and abuse to the limits of cruelty”.

In their letter addressed to the General Prosecutor’s Office it is stated that besides being hit by the gun butts and batons, some of them have been dragged and laid down on the ground and kicked and fisted. It is on purpose highlighted the participation of the Criminal Chief of Police Station in this unscrupulous criminal violent act. With the gun handle he hit one boy in the ear side leaving him bleeding and unconscious.

Police Station on the its part provided another version of the scene. It is stated that the criminal chief has been victim of an assault by a citizen who is now identified and is subject to penal procedure. But this source itself accepts that during search for the aggressors an incident happened where a group was accidentally detained and involved in the group. This is also confirmed in the letter of the plaintiffs.

AHC expresses the opinion that any assault addressed to a representative of order is a stern violation and as such must be prosecuted. But the above mentioned example shows that the reaction of the police group has exceeded any limits and has degraded in a violent act against innocent people. This is not an excuse for the violence used against them.

AHC denounces this repeated act of violence use on the part of the police towards innocent citizens. An appeal is addressed to the order bodies to assess seriously the citizens’ complaints and be more transparent in decision-making. Violence users must be held accountable and the respective measures must be made known publicly.

10.07.2002