Greece Orders Probe Into Pakistani Migrant’s Death in Police Station
Source: Balkan Insight
The Ministry of Citizens’ Protection on Friday ordered the Ombudsman to lead an investigation into the death of Muhammad Kamran Ashiq, a 37-year-old Pakistani who was found dead at the Agios Panteleimon police station in Athens.
The ministry sought “a complete and rapid clarification of the case within the framework of the mechanism for investigating incidents of police arbitrariness, so that absolutely no shadow is left,” it said.
The announcement followed protests on September 26 outside the police station where Ashiq died.
According to his family, Ashiq was found dead with bruises and injuries all over his body. It is alleged that he was taken to five different police stations and tortured.
The Greek activist group KEERFA, Movement United Against Racism and the Fascist Threat, his family and the Pakistan Community of Greece asserted that from September 13 to September 21 Ashiq underwent what they called a “midnight express” experience of torture in five police stations during which time he could not communicate with his relatives and lawyers.
KEERFA accused the police of attempting to cover up a murder and called for the resignation of the police’s leadership, adding that they will continue the fight for justice.
The prosecution has launched an investigation into the incident while the police announced that a Preliminary Administrative Investigation had also been launched.
A police press release stated that on September 21 Ashiq was found dead in the police station where he was initially brought in after a woman filed a complaint against him. She refused to press charges.
Police said Ashiq violently tried to break into the building where the woman lived. According to them, he was “under the influence of drugs or alcohol and was therefore detained”. Later, it emerged that he had been arrested previously for domestic violence.
Police reported that Ashiq destroyed the police station’s sink and was charged with damage to foreign property, disruption of service, disobedience, etc. A prosecutor sentenced him to 29 months of imprisonment and he was also given a fine.
After an incident occurred with fellow prisoners at the police station, he was then moved to a different area.
The Hellenic League for Human Rights, HLHR, a human rights organisation in Greece, said in a report published on September 19 that police brutality in Greece has worsened in recent years.
In a separate development, according to the Greek Coast Guard, a boat carrying 16 people capsized southeast of the island of Kos and a woman’s dead body was recovered.
The original article: belongs to Balkan Insight .
