Amnesty International Report 1994 - Denmark
- Document source:
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Date:
1 January 1994
At least 11 people were wounded in disputed circumstances when police shot into crowds during a violent demonstration. There were several reports of ill-treatment by police. The police shootings occurred at the time of a violent demonstration in Copenhagen, the capital, on 18 May, following the second Danish referendum on the Maastricht Treaty. The circumstances in which the police resorted to lethal force were disputed. The government, after first refusing to do so, initiated an official inquiry, but the findings had not been reported by the end of the year. There were several reports of ill-treatment by police. In May a 50-year-old woman, Helle CorDSEn, was allegedly hit and denied food and water while detained in a police station in a suburb of Copenhagen. Several other people alleged during the year that they had been beaten, thrown on the ground and handcuffed behind their backs by police conducting searches for drugs in and around Christiania, a former military base in Copenhagen which was settled by squatters in the early 1970s. Some of them were injured by having their feet forced back and up under the handcuffs. The case of Benjamin Schou, who suffered cardiac arrest and severe brain damage allegedly as a result of ill-treatment by police when arrested in 1992, was the subject of a civil claim against the police, which had not come to court by the end of the year. In July, in a parliamentary report following a judicial investigation into the ill-treatment of Babading Fatty and Himid Hassan Juma (see Amnesty International Reports 1991 and 1993), the Minister of Justice said that the authorities' actions in those cases were "unfortunate", and "unsatisfactory", although not due to "mistakes" or the negligence of any individual. He stated that measures taken and planned in relation to the reception and treatment of foreigners by the prison service and Copenhagen police would contribute to the prevention of such incidents in the future. He specifically called on the National Commissioner of Police to consider improving the training of officers involved in immigration control. In May Amnesty International wrote to the government about its continuing concerns in the cases of Babading Fatty and Himid Hassan Juma. These included the judicial inquiry's limited definition of physical ill-treatment as treatment which is "deliberate and intended to frighten or to compel one to make a confession", the failure to initiate formal disciplinary proceedings against any of the police officers or prison guards involved, and the failure to pay compensation to the victims. Also in May, Amnesty International urged the government to initiate an independent inquiry into the police shootings on 18 May and to make the findings public. In June an Amnesty International delegate visited Denmark to inquire into the police shootings and allegations of ill-treatment. She met the Attorney General, who was conducting an investigation into the events of 18 May based on information gathered by the police. In September Amnesty International wrote to the government concerning the imprisonment of Greenlanders in Denmark for prolonged indefinite periods, after conviction for serious crimes in Greenland. The organization noted that the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment had confirmed allegations that the alienation of these prisoners from their country and culture was so extreme that it could cause psychological disorders. Amnesty International therefore expressed concern that the possible serious effects on their mental health could amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. It urged the government to work with appropriate agencies in Denmark and Greenland to resolve this problem. The organization was informed by a member of the Greenland Home Rule Government that it intended to form a joint commission with the Danish Government which would address the imprisonment of Greenlanders in Denmark.
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