Today,
the rapid response groups of the Office of the Human Rights Defender visited 4
Police divisions, providing advice and assistance for realization of the rights
of more than 32 persons.
During
the visits, several violations were recorded, in particular:
1.
Violations of fundamental human rights by Police servicemen have been recorded,
including accessing personal cellular phones for the purposes of
identification.
In
particular, at the Nor Nork Police division, Police servicemen first attempted
to identify the citizen with technical devices against their will, and then,
for the same purpose, they accessed the citizen's private Viber account in
their cellular phone, revealed their name. Afterwards, with the same cellular
phone, the accessed Facebook and revealed the person’s first and last name, and
through similar methods identified the person, and gained access to personal
data.
The
Defender specifically warns the Police that such obvious illegal acts should be
excluded, they are unacceptable, they grossly violate the fundamental rights of
citizens.
These
rights take precedence over the performance of official duties assigned to
police servicemen, and they must refrain from committing obvious violations of
those rights.
2.
Cases of disproportionate physical force have been registered again. In
particular, persons taken to Nor Nork Police division revealed during the
private interviews that during the apprehending, 5-10 police servicemen
committed violence against a person, hitting, insulting, pulling, pushing to
the ground, and dragging the apprehended person to the Police vehicle.
Moreover,
as a result of the monitoring of the media, cases were registered where Police
servicemen insulted, unnecessarily pushed, and held “conversations” with
persons while apprehending them that does not derive from the status of a
Police servicemen. The Defender once again demands that police servicemen
demonstrate lawful behavior and a style of communication appropriate to Police
servicemen. The Defender will consistently follow a detailed investigation of
each of the registered violations.
3.
The monitoring of mass media and social networks conducted by the Defender
revealed manifestations of intolerant and insulting behavior towards police
servicemen.
4.
Certain mass media outlets continue the practice of not removing the comments
contain insults and unacceptable vocabulary made under their publications.
5.
Cases of apprehending persons after they had complied with the demands of
Police servicemen were registered. During the private interviews, persons
insisted that they were apprehended without any grounds, explain that Police
servicemen demanded from them to get out of the streets, a demand they
realized, and started walking on the sidewalks. After complying with the
demand, Police servicemen started apprehending them 5 minutes later.
6.
The rapid response groups also registered cases of apprehending persons who
were not directly involved in the protests. In particular, today, persons were
detained during assemblies in the Republic Square, who were in the vicinity of
the assemblies and were holding conversations with representatives of mass
media. During the private interviews of the representatives of the Human Rights
Defender’s Office held with the latter, it was revealed that persons were
detained on the direct instructions of the lieutenant colonel coordinating the
Police operations, and had heard about the instruction given to apprehend them
by radio.
Regarding
the above-mentioned, the Defender reiterates that apprehending persons on the
grounds of not complying with the demands of Police servicemen cannot be
considered legal in cases where not only had the Police servicemen not made
such demands, the relevant persons were not even participating in the
assemblies.
Such restrictions of the liberties of persons
are not legal.
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