26/ 12/ 2012 On the findings of the Council for the Civic Control of Police regarding police performance on the occasion of basketball match Budućnost-Partizan
26/ 12/ 2012 On the findings of the Council for the Civic Control of Police regarding police performance on the occasion of basketball match Budućnost-Partizan
HRA informs the public that the Council for the Civic Control of Police Forces has concluded that during the protection of the basketball match Budućnost – Partizan police officers applied excessive and unlawful coercive measures, batons and physical strength, and therefore, exceeded their official authority against the fans, who at the time did not offer any resistance.
However, the Council did not criticize the fact that up to date, even two months after the incident, the public has not been informed that any of the police officers have been processed or punished in any way for breaching the law, as indicated by the Council. The illegal behavior of the police officers should have been immediately apparent also to competent managers of the Police Directorate, Ministry of Interior and the State Prosecutor’s Office.
Instead, the Council for the Civic Control of Police Forces supported the Police Directorate in its “decisive and consistent fight with all legal means against rampage and hooliganism at sports events.”
Although HRA does not support rampage and hooliganism in any form, it does not support either inertia of public authorities, internal control of the Ministry of Interior and the public prosecution that up to date, two months after the respective game, found necessary only to effectively prosecute basketball clubs’ fans, and not the civil servants.
Selective approach to law enforcement promotes the policy of impunity for civil servants, who are therefore privileged to the detriment of other citizens and contrary to the rule of law. This fact, besides the European Commission, should primarily concern the new Minister of Interior, Mr. Raško Konjević, as well as Ms. Ranka Čarapić, the Supreme State Prosecutor.
Absolute human right to freedom from torture and other ill-treatment by civil servants additionally obliges competent state authorities to prove that they have zero tolerance to such incidents, as it has been already indicated for Montenegro by the UN Committee against Torture and the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT).
HRA has sent today to Mr. Konjević and to Ms. Čarapić the copy of the Council’s opinion, together with the letter, submitted on 30 October 2012 to Mr. Ivan Brajović, the former Minster of Interior, in which HRA urged to the Ministry to ensure timely processing of responsible officers.
HRA reiterates that to date no progress has been made in the investigation regarding a conduct of a police officer against juvenile son of an actor Davor Dragojević, who filed criminal charges for abuse against unidentified police officers following the said basketball match.
