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Amnesty International Report 1999 - Belgium

BELGIUM

Criminal proceedings were under way against members of the Belgian armed forces accused of torture, ill-treatment and unlawful killing of Somalis in 1993, during a UN peace- keeping operation. There were reports of ill-treatment by law enforcement officers: they concerned criminal suspects, and asylum-seekers being forcibly deported. The death of a foreign national underlined the dangers of a method of restraint used during such deportations.

In December Belgium ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty, and Protocol No. 6 to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms concerning the abolition of the death penalty.

In June the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment published the findings of its September 1997 visit of inspection to 22 places of detention. The Committee reported allegations that guards in one of four prisons visited had ill-treated several prisoners in 1997 and said it had heard “a number of allegations of physical ill-treatment” made against police and gendarmes by both Belgian and foreign nationals, some of them minors. It said it was “very concerned” by the treatment of detainees by law enforcement officers. The ill-treatment alleged consisted generally of kicks, punches and baton blows, inflicted at the time of arrest and during transfer to and inside police and gendarmerie stations. The Committee said it had also received allegations of ill-treatment - “such as blows and excessive recourse to physical means of restraint” - concerning foreign nationals being forcibly expelled from the country: the majority involved people being escorted onto planes at Brussels-National Airport by gendarmes.

The Committee underlined that only the minimum amount of restraint necessary to reach the required objective should be employed in forcible deportations. It also called on the authorities to demonstrate greater vigilance regarding the treatment of detainees and made a series of recommendations aimed at preventing ill-treatment by law enforcement officers. The Committee expressed serious concern that no progress had been made regarding the introduction of certain fundamental safeguards against ill-treatment in police custody which it had recommended following its first visit of inspection in 1993. These included recognition of the right of access to a lawyer from the beginning of the custody period; systematic and prompt provision to detainees of a document setting out all their rights, and the drawing up of a code of conduct for interrogations.

In October the Permanent Monitoring Committee of Police Services, a body examining the functioning of all Belgian law enforcement agencies, submitted its fourth annual report to parliament and the government. It reiterated a number of concerns raised in its previous reports. These included the Committee’s concern that it continued to receive numerous allegations of unprovoked physical assault and use of excessive force by law enforcement officers, that such behaviour was “very rarely” punished by either the administrative or judicial authorities, that officers commonly justified use of violence by accusing alleged victims of resisting arrest and that the internal hierarchy was seemingly satisfied with such explanations.

In November, following its examination of Belgium’s third periodic report on its implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the unHuman Rights Committee expressed “grave concern” about “reports of widespread police brutality” and regret at “the lack of transparency in the conduct of investigations on the part of police authorities and the difficulty in obtaining access to this information”. It also expressed concern that criminal suspects had no right of access to a lawyer and a medical visit from the moment of arrest and said that they should also be informed promptly of their rights, in a language they understood.

The Committee stated that “Procedures used in the repatriation of some asylum-seekers and in particular the method of placing a cushion on the face of an individual in order to overcome resistance entails a risk to life.” It said that the death of a Nigerian national in September, after the use of such techniques (see below), illustrated “the need to re-examine the whole procedure of forcible deportations”. The Committee asked for “written information on the results of the investigations as well as of any criminal or disciplinary proceedings” and recommended that “all security forces concerned in effecting deportations should receive special training”.

It also expressed concern about the behaviour of Belgian soldiers in Somalia in 1993 and noted that, in response to its questioning, the government’s representatives had stated that 270 files had been opened “for purposes of investigation”. However, the Committee expressed regret that it had “not received further information on the result of the investigations and adjudication of cases” and requested the government to submit such information.

There were developments in several judicial proceedings opened in 1997 concerning alleged human rights violations committed by Belgian soldiers in Somalia (see Amnesty International Report 1998). These included a first instance military court’s acquittal in March of a sergeant accused of assault and battery with threats, and of violating legislation prohibiting certain racist acts, in connection with the alleged forcible feeding of a Muslim Somali child with pork and salted water until he vomited. The court reportedly sentenced the sergeant to one month’s suspended imprisonment for tying a Somali child to a military vehicle and then giving the order for the vehicle to move off, and to a further two months’ suspended imprisonment for incitement to debauchery after he procured and offered a teenage Somali girl as a “present” at the birthday party of a paratrooper in his charge. The girl was then allegedly forced to perform a “strip show” and to have sexual relations with two paratroopers.

In May, following appeals lodged against the verdict, a military court found the sergeant guilty of all the above offences. It reportedly sentenced him to a total of 12 months’ imprisonment, six of them suspended, together with a payment of 15,000 Belgian francs (US$400) in damages, deprivation of civil rights for a period of five years, and exclusion from the army. The outcome of an appeal which the sergeant lodged with a higher court was apparently still awaited at the end of the year.

There were a number of allegations that some foreign nationals being forcibly deported were physically assaulted and subjected to dangerous restraint techniques by gendarmes.

Semira Adamu, a Nigerian national, died in September within hours of an attempt to deport her forcibly from Brussels-National Airport. She had physically resisted five previous attempts to deport her following the rejection of her asylum application. It was alleged that gendarmes who escorted her onto a plane subjected her to verbal abuse and that one of them pressed a cushion against her face. Within days of her death the Ministry of the Interior stated that she was handcuffed and shackled during the deportation operation and that for a “certain”, unspecified length of time a gendarme used the so-called “cushion technique”, a method of restraint authorized by the Belgian authorities, that allows gendarmes to press a cushion against the mouth, but not the nose, of a recalcitrant deportee, to prevent biting and shouting. When Semira Adamu lost consciousness, medical assistance was immediately sought and she was transferred to hospital where she died later that day. An initial autopsy indicated that she died of asphyxia. It subsequently emerged that two other foreign nationals had died following use of the “cushion technique” in previous years.

The Brussels Public Prosecutor’s office immediately ordered a judicial investigation into the circumstances and cause of Semira Adamu’s collapse and death and two gendarmes were placed under formal investigation in connection with a possible charge of manslaughter. In December the Public Prosecutor’s office stated that a third officer had been placed under investigation on the same charge and that a second autopsy and various forensic tests had confirmed that Semira Adamu had died of asphyxia. A disciplinary investigation was opened but then suspended pending the outcome of the judicial investigation. The Minister of the Interior resigned following the revelation, within days of the death, that one of the escorting gendarmes had sanctions imposed on him in January for ill-treating a detained asylum-seeker.

In October the government announced an “evaluation” of asylum procedures. The measures included a ban on the use of the “cushion technique” pending the outcome of an analysis of methods of restraint during forcible deportations, to be carried out by a newly created independent commission; and additional training for gendarmes involved in forcible deportations.

In September Amnesty International wrote to the authorities expressing concern at the death of Semira Adamu and the use of the “cushion technique” and seeking precise details on its application. The organization asked to be informed of the eventual outcome of the judicial inquiry and of any further criminal or disciplinary proceedings arising from it. It also urged the government to conduct a full and impartial investigation into alleged ill-treatment by gendarmes during forcible deportations, together with a full review of restraint techniques to subdue recalcitrant deportees and of the training of officers required to deal with such deportees.

In October the new Minister of the Interior assured Amnesty International of the government’s “sincere intent to collaborate” with the organization regarding the case of Semira Adamu in particular, and “Belgian forced repatriation policy in general”. In December the Minister supplied information in response to some of the requests made in Amnesty International’s letter of September, and explained that this was an initial response.

In June Amnesty International asked the Minister of Defence for his cooperation in supplying the organization with copies of several court verdicts issued in 1998 relating to alleged human rights violations committed by members of the Belgian armed forces in Somalia. The organization also recalled the information on various investigations and judicial proceedings which it had sought in a letter sent to the Minister in July 1997 but to which it had received no response (see Amnesty International Report 1998). Amnesty International reiterated its wish to receive the information, including news of progress in proceedings relating to photographs showing a sergeant-major urinating on the inanimate body of a Somali man and the alleged death of a Somali child locked inside a metal container, without food or drink. Amnesty International also asked whether those carrying out official investigations into the allegations of human rights violations made during 1997 had travelled to Somalia to carry out on-site investigations and to collect testimony from witnesses.

In June the Minister wrote to Amnesty International expressing regret that it had received no response to its July 1997 letter. He stated that he was unable to supply copies of verdicts of the military courts and recommended that the organization seek them and information about any investigations and testimony collected in Somalia from the Chief Military Prosecutor. The Minister supplied copies of a report concerning army reforms and outlined steps being taken towards introducing them relating, in particular, to speedier and more effective disciplinary proceedings and sanctions; and changes to army recruitment and selection, as well as training.

Amnesty International wrote to the Chief Military Prosecutor in August and he subsequently supplied various court verdicts issued in 1995 and a copy of a court verdict issued in 1997 relating to the case of a Somali boy swung over an open fire by paratroopers (see Amnesty International Report 1998). However, he did not supply the other information requested by the organization.

In October Amnesty International submitted information about a number of its concerns in Belgium to the UN Human Rights Committee.