ERRC letter to the General Prosecutor of Poland Leszek Kubicki
25 August 1997
Honourable Mr. General Prosecutor,
The European Roma Rights Center, an international public interest law organisation which monitors the rights of Roma and provides legal defence in cases of human rights abuse, is concerned about an incident of alleged police ill-treatment of a 15-year-old Romani boy in Poland.
According to the ERRC's information, 15-year-old Robert Pawłowski, in the company of 26-year-old Beata Banach, was approached by a police car while kicking a trash-can in the southern town of Wodzisław Śłanski late in the evening on November 26, 1996. Scared by the sight of the police, Robert started to run away. He was followed by Officer Bogdan Szuliński, one of the policemen, while another two police officers drove after them in the car. The police officers pulled Beata into the car and she remained with them during the rest of the incident.
Robert ran straight to the first-floor apartment of his aunt, Danuta Bałasz, where Officer Szuliński caught up with him and prevented him from entering. From inside the apartment, Mrs. Bałasz heard banging on the front door. Upon opening the door, she saw Officer Szuliński push Robert down the stairs and beat him. When Mrs. Bałasz ran downstairs, she found Robert lying on the ground by the building entranceway, bleeding heavily from his head. She reported to the ERRC that she heard two gunshots during the incident, one outside the house before Robert arrived at her door and the second during the beating on the staircase.
Robert was taken to a hospital in Jastrzębie. He was operated on the same night. He remained in the hospital for a month and will never fully recover from the head injuries he sustained, which include a broken skull and brain damage.
Following an official complaint filed against the police by Mrs. Bałasz, an investigation into the incident was launched by the Jastrzębie Prosecutors Office in December 1996. According to information made available to the ERRC, the case file (2Ds 1602/96) states that the police deny having used any violence against Robert. Officer Szuliński reportedly contends that Robert, a suspect who had fled the scene of the crime to a nearby apartment building, fell and hit his head on a sharp object situated next to the building entranceway. The police allegedly acknowledged that they had fired one shot during the action, but in the air and with a blank shell only.
According to our information, the police have as yet issued no written statement regarding the incident. The only medical evaluations prepared to date have proven inconclusive.
In Febuary 1997, the prosecutor in charge at the Jastrzębie Prosecutors Office, Mr. Krystian Nogły, decided not to bring charges and dropped the case. Following a complaint lodged by Mr. Leszek Piotrowski, the lawyer of the victim, the case was reopened on the order of the Katowice County Prosecutors Office in March 1997. The case is currently under investigation by Mr. Nogły, the same prosecutor who dropped it in February.
Honourable Mr. General Prosecutor, the ERRC urges you to see to it that a thorough and impartial investigation into the alleged police misconduct is carried out and kindly asks to be informed about the results of the investigation and any subsequent disciplinary or judicial proceedings. We thank you in advance for your co-operation and look forward to your reply.
Sincerely,
Veronika Leila Szente
European Roma Rights Center
