Equality body rules that the case of Jean Mistrellides had been mishandled by the police
On 20 January 2006 the District Court of Nicosia found Jean Mistrellides (JM), a Cypriot of African descent, guilty of assaulting a group of youth. The youth had systematically been demonstrating aggressively racist and threatening behaviour towards JM for which JM had repeatedly complained to the police who failed to prosecute the youth or offer any protection to JM and his family. In 2003 JM chased the youth away in a manner which caused one of them to lose his balance and fall from his motorbike, sustaining minor injuries; the youth complained to the police who pressed charges against JM but not against the youth. In Court, JM pleaded guilty to the charges and was fined. A NGO filed a complaint to the Equality body against the police for failing to prosecute the youth for their systematic racist behaviour, claiming discrimination in access to police protection on the ground of race/ethnic origin. In its decision (dated 01.08.2007) the equality body noted the police’s allegations, that JM never officially filed a complaint to the police and that when the police invited him to do so, he declined stating that he does not trust the police. The report nevertheless found that the police was obliged to examine the case on its own initiative, bearing in mind that victims often fear reprisals and may thus be frightened to file complaints. Moreover, the Report noted that the police failed to protect JM or take measures to prevent the crime and to combat the racial harassment. Special mention is made of the discrepancies in the recording of racial incidents by the police and of the fact that the data kept by the police do not reveal the true extent of the situation in Cyprus regarding racism. The report also deplored the practice of the police to publicise figures about crimes committed by migrants, but never about crimes committed against migrants, which leads to feelings of insecurity, xenophobia and racism amongst the host population. The report calls on the police to consider anew the incident and take all measures necessary to protect the victim and prosecute the racist youth even at this late stage.. The report’s recommendations were not taken up by the police who did not proceed to prosecute the youth. Instead, the police invited JM to visit the police station in order to give a written statement but he declined saying that he does not trust the police. The equality body did not take any further action after that.
Source:
Cyprus Country Report 2010, Legal Network of Experts in the non-discrimination field, http://www.non-discrimination.net/content/media/2010-CY-Country%20Report%20LN_FINAL.pdf
