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Germany - 2012

Is there evidence of police violence against migrants/minorities in custody?

Code:
RED51
Key Area:
Policing - Law Enforcement - Justice
Strand(s):
Racism
23/01/2013 - 17:19
Short Answer

There is no evidence of systematic police violence in Germany. Yet, single incidents of police violence do exist.
Qualitative Info

In a report published in 2004, ‘Aktion Courage’ presented 70 cases of police violence against migrants/minorities between 2000 and 2003 and stated that the dark figure could be expected to be substantially higher. Yet, not all of these incidents took place while the persons were in custody [1].

A case on the death of the asylum-seeker Oury Jalloh, who died in police custody in 2005 from heat shock caused by a fire in his cell in the police station in Dessau intensified debates on the lack of an independent assessment of cases involving possible police misconduct.
In 2012, the regional court Magdeburg (Landgericht Magdeburg) ruled in a second trial on the death of the asylum-seeker Oury Jalloh. In the first trial in December 2008, two officers were acquitted of assault causing bodily harm with fatal consequences by the regional court Dessau (Landgericht Dessau). In January 2010, the Federal Court of Justice reversed the acquittal of one of the officers who was in duty. On 13 December 2012, the regional court Magdeburg fined the officer on duty 10,800 euros for involuntary manslaughter [5,6]. Demonstrators met outside the Magdeburg court protest against the decision insisting it was murder. Amnesty International as well as Pro Asyl criticised the decision and stated that many questions on what happened in the cell remained unclear [7].

Sources:

  1. Deutschland: Dokumentationen über Polizeigewalt gegen Ausländer (2004) (quoted as Dokumentation), Newsletter ‚Migration und Bevölkerung’ Januar/Februar 2004 des Netzwerks Migration in Europa e.V., http://www.migration-info.de/mub_artikel.php?Id=040103, Accessed on 27.02.2012.
  2. Aktion Courage (2004), Polizeiübergriffe auf Ausländerinnen und Ausländer in Deutschland 2000-2003, Press release, 13.01.2004.
  3. Amnesty International (AI), Erneut im Fokus - Vorwürfe über polizeiliche Misshandlungen und den Einsatz unverhältnismäßiger Gewalt in Deutschland, Country Report Germany, 14.09.2004.
  4. European Commission on Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) (2009), Fourth Country Report on Germany – fourth monitoring cycle.
  5. Spiegel online (2012) ‘Polizist im Jallow-Prozess zu 10.800 Euro Strafe verurteilt’, 13 December 2012, available at: http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/fall-ouri-jallow-gericht-verhaengt-geldstrafe-gegen-polizist-a-872673.html, Accessed on 13.01.2013.
  6. Amnesty international (2012) ‘Deutschland: Polizist im Oury-Jalloh-Prozess zu Geldstrafe verurteilt’, 13 December 2012, available at: http://www.amnesty.de/2012/12/13/deutschland-polizist-im-oury-jalloh-prozess-zu-geldstrafe-verurteilt, Accessed on 13.01.2013.
  7. Pro Asyl (2012) ‘Ergebnis des Prozesses im Fall Oury Jalloh ist rechtstaatliches Desaster’, Press release, 13 Dezember 2012, available at: http://www.sachsen-anhalt.de/fileadmin/Elementbibliothek/Bibliothek_Integrationsportal/Dokumente/Downloads/2012/Dezember_2012/PE_Urteil_im_Fall_Oury_Jalloh.pdf, Accessed on 13.01.2013.


 
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Key socio-economic / Institutional Areas Policing - law enforcement
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