A 45-year-old man has died in police custody in Police Station No.3 in Tirana. According to the police, the victim known by initials D.R. might have lost his life yesterday at about 4.45am.
In a press release by the police the following is stated:
Preliminary body examination shows no signs of violence or other kinds of damage. It is preliminary suspected that the death might have occurred as a result of a cardiac arrest.
A medico-legal report on the death cause is expected to be released soon.
This is the third case within few months that a detainee dies in police custody under unclear circumstances.
On May 14, 27-year-old Enea Ftoi was found dead in the custody cells of the Korça Police precinct. The Albanian Helsinki Committee (KShH) publicly demanded that the Prosecution Office conduct a thorough investigation, pointing out the discrepancies between the version of events given by the police, and the one given by documentation and records.
In October 2017, the KShH denounced another case of physical abuse on an inmate in the Peqin high security prison.
The KShH has also published a shocking report concerning the observance of the UN’s Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which Albania has ratified. Similar to the abovementioned cases, the report is largely critical of the legal standards concerning the investigation and indictment of torture, as well as the conditions of prisoners in Albania.
