Police kill Romani man in Romania
07 December 1999
According to the Romanian daily Ziua, a police officer shot and killed an unarmed Romani man during a police raid on a group of cigarette smugglers in Bucharest on October 27, 1999. The victim, forty-year old Mr Radu Marian, was a member of a group of sixteen cigarette smugglers who were ambushed by Bucharest police and troops of the Direction of Special Interventions and Actions (DIAS), special forces under the Ministry of the Interior, at the railroad in the Giuleti district. Security forces reportedly waited for the smugglers to begin transporting smuggled cigarette boxes before they emerged and shouted at the smugglers to stop. Most of the smugglers surrendered, but three men, including Mr Radu Marian, attempted to run away. Sergeant Major L.B. then reportedly fired four shots, one of which hit Mr Marian in the back of the head, killing him instantly. The two other men who had attempted to flee were also injured by gun shots, but their injuries were not life-threatening. The Bucharest office of the Military Police opened investigation to determine whether or not the use of weapons was legal. According to article 19(d) of the Law Regarding the Function of the Romanian Police, Romanian police are justified in using weapons, including firearms, if a suspect is attempting to escape and does not stop after being warned. However, Article 21 of the same law states that the use of a firearm must only be used as a last resort and shall be used only to immobilize the individual and not to endanger his life. The UN's "Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials" of 1990 stipulates, "Law enforcement officials shall not use firearms against persons except in self-defence or defence of others against imminent threat of death or serious injury, to prevent the perpetration of a particularly serious crime involving a grave threat to life, to arrest a person presenting such a danger and resisting their authority, or to prevent his or her escape, and only when less extreme means are insufficient to achieve these objectives. In any event, intentional lethal use of firearms may only be made when strictly unavoidable in order to protect life." Ziua reported that the military investigation confirmed that the shot that killed Mr Marian was deliberate, although as of November 18, the investigation into whether the use of the firearm was justified was still open and no charges had been brought against Sergeant Major L.B.
A further incident of police violence occurred in the town of Caracal, approximately 200 km west of Bucharest, when approximately one hundred police officers and gendarmes raided the Finarie Romani settlement on September 28, 1999. The raid was initiated to arrest five leaders of two rival Romani gangs which had violently clashed earlier in the month, reported Ziua on September 29, but the search for the gang leaders escalated into a raid of the entire neighbourhood. Police allegedly threw tear gas into several of the apartments in the settlement. The five men were ultimately detained. The Romanian non-governmental organisation Liga Pro Europa requested that the police of Olt County, where Caracal is located, investigate the legality of the use of tear gas during the raid. As of November 29, they had received no response from the police. (For more information on police violence against Roma in Romania, see the ERRC country report: Sudden Rage at Dawn: Violence against Roma in Romania).
In other Romanian news, according to the Romanian news agency Mediafax of October 20, 1999, local authorities in the town of Piatra Neam?, Romania, approximately 275 km north of Bucharest, hired two ex-servicemen from neighbouring Moldova to "create order" in the town's Romani settlements. The mayor of Piatra Neamþ, Mr Ioan Rotaru, reportedly decided to hire the servicemen, who have experience in Afghanistan and Chechnya, to "deal with" several dozen Romani families. The mayor claimed that Roma moved into the town illegally, that they "do not respect any order", and "make the town dirty". Mayor Rotaru reportedly told journalists that he did not know what methods the two men would use to remove the Roma, but he was sure they would employ "legal means." The Romanian daily Naþional wrote on October 27 that within a few days the servicemen had forced Roma clean the garbage out of the settlement. It is not clear what methods they used to make the Roma comply with their orders.
(ERRC, Liga Pro Europa, Mediafax, National, Ziua)
