MINELRES: ERRC: Abuse of Roma in Macedonia

[MINELRES moderator]

Original sender: European Roma Rights Center <errc@errc.org>


March 6, 2003
European Roma Rights Center Press Release:
ERRC Letter of Concern to Macedonian Prime Minister Concerning Recent
Roma Rights Abuses in Macedonia

On March 6, 2003, the European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) sent a letter
to Prime Minister of the Republic of Macedonia Mr Branko Crvenkovski
expressing concern at the recent violations of the human rights of Roma
in Macedonia, including instances of police violence against Roma and an
outbreak of anti-Romani expression in the Macedonian media. Information
on the human rights situation of Roma in Macedonia is available on the
internet at: http://errc.org/publications/indices/macedonia.shtml. The
text of the ERRC�s March 6 letter follows:

Honourable Prime Minister Crvenkovski,

The European Roma Rights Center (ERRC), an international public interest
law organisation which monitors the human rights situation of Roma and
provides legal defence in cases of human rights abuse, is alarmed about
recent reports of the violations of human rights of Roma in Macedonia,
as well as instances of anti-Romani expression in the media.

The ERRC has received information from the Romani non-governmental
organisations Arka and Drom in Kumanovo, and from the Stip-based
Association for Human Rights Protection of Roma (Zdruzenie za pravata na
Romite), an ERRC local partner in Macedonia, concerning two cases of
police abuse of Roma in Macedonia. In one of the incidents, unidentified
police officers reportedly physically abused and otherwise humiliated
three Romani men at the police station in Prilep, south-western
Macedonia, on February 8, 2003. According to the information received by
the ERRC, Mr Jasar Ramadan, a 28-year-old Romani man from Bitola, Mr
Senad Ristemovski, a 21-year-old Romani man from Prilep, and Mr Ejvaz
Serifovski, a 19-year-old Romani man from Prilep, were walking in the
centre of Prilep around noon on February 8, when they were stopped by
two police officers who asked them to show their identification
documents. After the Roma replied that they did not have their
identification documents with them, the officers brought them to the
Prilep police station, and took them to an office where the men were
joined by a second group of police officers, altogether totalling 15
persons. Without any explanation, the officers present � reportedly with
the exception of two officers of supposed ethnic Albanian origin � took
turns in beating the Romani youngsters. For at least five minutes, the
officers beat the Roma with rubber truncheons on their hands. One of the
officers occasionally hit them on their bodies with a wooden club. After
this, the officers interrogated the Roma in relation to the whereabouts
of an elderly man whom the Roma had allegedly had beaten up. As the Roma
denied knowing about this, the physical abuse continued. After some
time, the officers questioned the Roma about an elderly woman and some
money that had allegedly been stolen from her, and when this crime was
also denied more violence followed. As the officers also searched the
young men, they found the mobile phone of Mr Ristemovski, which he
stated had been given to him by his sister. However, the officers did
not accept this explanation, and tried to coerce Mr Ristemovski to
confess that he had stolen the telephone. Reportedly, at this point the
beating made the young men feel so weak that they could no longer stand
on their feet. When one of the officers asked the detainees what they
studied, Mr Ristemovski replied that they were Muslims and that they
studied the Quran. After this, one of the officers ordered the Roma to
pray in the Muslim way. Initially, the Romani men refused to obey, after
which the police officers reportedly physically abused them again, and
forced the Roma to pray. The officers then told the Roma to sing a
Muslim prayer song, an order which was also enforced by violence. The
three men were released from the police station at around 16:30 PM.
Reportedly, the officers made the men sign a statement that the latter
had no complaints regarding the treatment they had undergone at the
police station. Following their release, they were diagnosed by medical
practitioners as having sustained light bodily injuries. According to
the parents of the young men, they were invited to the police station
and threatened that their children would not be released before the
parents signed statements that they would not press charges in relation
to the case, and they eventually did so. The Association for Human
Rights Protection of Roma, the ERRC�s local partner in monitoring Roma
rights in Macedonia, is in possession of comprehensive documentation on
the case, including photographs of injuries and medical protocols
documenting injuries.

A second documented case pertains to an incident of physical abuse by
police of two Romani men in Kumanovo, 26-year-old Mr Skender Sadikovic,
and 25-year-old Mr Memet Dalipovski, February 7, 2003. According to
information provided to the ERRC by local Romani organisations, in the
early afternoon of February 7, two police officers arrived to the house
of Mr Dalipovski, and searched his house without a warrant, reportedly
looking for a safe stolen from a local church, purportedly containing
around 500,000 Macedonian denars (around 8300 EUR). The officers then
took Mr Dalipovski with them and continued to the house of Mr Sadikovic,
in another Romani settlement of Kumanovo. The officers searched the
house of Mr Sadikovic, with the same explanation, and again without an
appropriate warrant. According to the statements of the victim and
eyewitnesses, the officers also beat Mr Sadikovic with their hands, in
the view of his family and neighbours. After both the men were taken
together to the Kumanovo police station around 1PM, they were taken to
separate offices. In the course of the physical abuse that ensued, a
group of five police officers, including two officers who brought him to
the police station, put Mr Sadikovic in a chair and handcuffed him. The
officers then beat him with instruments including the handles of axes,
and particularly on the lower part of his back. Under coercion, Mr
Sadikovic confessed that the safe was at his home. This was not,
however, true, and Mr Sadikovic later reportedly told representatives of
local non-governmental organisations that the sole reason for his
confession had been to secure release from the duress to which he was
subjected by police officers. Separately, two police officers beat Mr
Dalipovski by punching him in the head, until he fell to the floor; at
that point the officers were joined by three other colleagues, and they
all continued kicking Mr Dalipovski with their feet as he lay on the
floor, particularly on his ribs. In the course of the physical abuse,
the officers also cursed the Romani men�s ethnic origins. It is reported
that at a later point the police officers brought the Romani men
together and forced them to fight each other, apparently to make it seem
as if the injuries caused by the officers were caused by the men
themselves. Mr Sadikovic was held at the police station for around six
hours, after which the police officers told him that the real culprits
had been identified, and they reportedly apologised to him. Mr
Dalipovski was held at the police station for approximately 26 hours,
during which time officers again physically abused him. He was then
released with the same explanation. Officers reportedly warned him not
to report his physical abuse.

With the assistance of the Kumanovo-based organisation Arka, both Romani
men underwent medical examinations, during which their injuries were
documented. The doctors emphasised the need of further hospital
treatment, which Mr Sadikovic and Mr Dalipovski could not do as they do
not have medical insurance and could not afford the hospital expenses.
Reportedly, several days after the abuse took place, the officers
contacted the Romani men and offered to cover the medical expenses in
exchange for an agreement whereby the men would not pursue complaints,
and when the Romani men refused the offer, the officers reportedly made
unspecified threats. The ERRC has received information that, as of
February 21, 2003, the officers had been disciplined with fines
amounting to the Macedonian dinar equivalent of a mere 15 EUR per
person. The fines were not, however, levied on grounds of physical
abuse, but rather reportedly for the inadequate conduct of the
investigation. Officials at the Macedonian Ministry of Interior have
reportedly stated that the Ministry is conducting an investigation into
the case.

In addition to the instances of physical abuse by law enforcement
officials described above, the ERRC is concerned at an apparent recent
rise in the number of cases in which the Romani ethnicity of alleged
perpetrators of crimes has been emphasised by the Macedonian media, in a
manner that creates a link between Roma and crime. For example, in the
recent case of a violent conflict between a group of teenagers in Skopje
on February 22, 2003 in which a young non-Romani man was killed and
three injured, the subsequent coverage of the incident in the Skopje
dailies Dnevnik and Vesti also included the information that two alleged
minor perpetrators were Romani. In another case, the daily newspaper
Vesti of February 25, 2003, published an article on the attack on the
keeper of a mill in the village of Topolcani, reportedly committed by
�two Romani persons�. The same daily wrote on January 21, 2003, on
�Romani drug dealers caught with marijuana�. Also, in an article of
December 21, 2002, Vesti informed their readers in a headline that �Roma
sell their children for 50 euro and force them into prostitution�.

Additionally, in a case of alleged child abuse in Stip, on February 13,
2003, the daily Vesti published full names of both the two-year-old
victim and her mother, both Romani. The newspaper thus violated the
privacy of the persons involved, and also violated the right to the
presumption of innocence, guaranteed inter alia by the Macedonian
Constitution. The daily Utrinski vesnik of February 20, 2003, ventured a
step further by publishing a lengthy opinion piece on the �Gypsy
child-killer� and �Gypsy children abused by their parents�.

Honourable Prime Minister Crvenkovski, the ERRC is concerned that the
reactions of the Macedonian authorities with the regards to recent
reported cases of police abuse of Roma have been deeply inadequate. We
would respectfully request that your office undertake urgent measures to
ensure that these reports of police abuse against Roma are thoroughly
and impartially investigated, and that any and all persons guilty of
crimes in connection with the cases are prosecuted to the fullest extent
of the law. Any and all harmed parties should receive due just remedy,
including all relevant damages. Furthermore, the ERRC is concerned that
media in Macedonia are currently fostering an atmosphere of anti-Romani
hostility. In light of Macedonia�s obligations under international human
rights law to combat racial discrimination, we would also urge you to
speak out against anti-Romani hate speech and the unnecessary provision
in the media of the ethnic background of alleged perpetrators of crimes,
as well as instances of racist incitement in the media. We request to be
informed of any actions taken by your office with respect to the
concerns raised above.

Sincerely,

Dimitrina Petrova
Executive Director

Persons wishing to express similar concerns are urged to contact:

Mr Branko Crvenkovski
Prime Minister of the Republic of Macedonia
Ilindenska bb
91000 Skopje
Republic of Macedonia
Fax: +389 2 112 561

_____________________________________________

The European Roma Rights Center is an international public interest law
organisation which monitors the rights of Roma and provides legal
defence in cases of human rights abuse. For more information about the
European Roma Rights Center, visit the ERRC on the web at
http://www.errc.org.

European Roma Rights Center
1386 Budapest 62
P.O. Box 906/93
Hungary

Phone: +36 1 4132200
Fax:   +36 1 4132201

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