Police raid in Săruleşti, Romania
10 September 1998
The ERRC continues to receive regular reports of police violence against Roma in Romania. At around 3:30 am in the morning of June 29, 1998, the Călăraşi County Police carried out a massive raid involving between 60 and 120 policemen in the Romani community of Săruleşti, approximately 50 kilometres south-east of Bucharest. Victims told the ERRC that police officers broke into their homes without warrants or their consent and beat them - including women and children - without giving any explanation for their actions. During the raid, a police officer shot 31-year-old Gabriel Mihai, one of the Romani inhabitants, seriously wounding him in the spine and leg. Approximately ten men and boys were forced into a van and brought to the local police station in Săruleşti, where they were fingerprinted and held for several hours. All detainees were released at approximately 10 am; none was charged with any crime.
As a result of his injuries, Mr Mihai had to stay in hospital until July 15. The following day, on July 16, he filed a complaint against the police concerning the raid and the unlawful shooting. On August 4, Mr Mihai was examined in the forensic laboratory in Călăraşi in the presence of a county police investigator named Matache. When Mr Mihai asked for a medical certificate documenting the results of the examination, Officer Matache reportedly promised to send him a copy once it was issued. At the time of publication, the ERRC has not learned of the results of the forensic examination.
When asked by the ERRC, the Călăraşi County Police confirmed that the police raid had indeed taken place. According to Captain Marian Bireş of the crime prevention department, the raid was carried out following a request from the local police of Săruleşti, who "no longer could cope with the high level of criminality among the Săruleşti Roma." Captain Bireş told the ERRC that similar raids had been conducted elsewhere in the county, in Romani communities "where the crime rate had reached a level which warranted action." At one point, Captain Bireş asserted that the aim of the June 29 raid had been to arrest ten "criminals" for whom warrants had been issued. None of the ten, he said, had been apprehended. The incident is being investigated both by the General Inspectorate of the Police and by the Bucharest Territorial Military Prosecutor's Office.
Investigations into allegations of the use of force by law-enforcement officials against Roma in Romania often drag on indefinitely. Two cases of shooting and wounding of Roma by police - of 21-year-old Marin Remus Marin near Buftea, (approximately 30 kilometres north of Bucharest) on August 21, 1997, and of 29-year-old LaurenĹŁiu Ciobanu in Bucharest on February 11, 1997 - were both still at the stage of initial investigation as of early August 1998. Indeed, concerning the shooting of Ciobanu a year and a half ago, Prosecutor Rusu of the Bucharest Territorial Military Prosecutor's Office bluntly stated that he "had not had the time to work on it at all as yet".
Albeit rarely, an investigation into police abuse of Roma in Romania does yield an indictment. However, courts seem to find it difficult to pronounce police officers guilty. On May 20, 1998, officer T.S., indicted for the murder of 26-year-old Mircea Muresul Mosor on May 9, 1996 (see Roma Rights, Fall 1996), was acquitted by the Bucharest Military Court on the grounds of self-defence - despite clear evidence that Mr Mosor had been shot in the back. The ERRC has been informed that Prosecutor Slavoiu, chief of the Bucharest Territorial Military Prosecutor's Office, is preparing an appeal of this acquittal, to be filed shortly with the Military Court of Appeal.
(ERRC)
