The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has ruled against the Albanian police in support of a family of three generations who suffered police violence in 2014.
Eight years ago, a court in Fier found three generations of the same family guilty of obstructing the police. The individuals claimed consistently that it was the police who had assaulted them, and they pursued the matter to the European court. The court ruled in their favour and awarded three of the five applications EUR 4500.
In 2014, police entered the family’s apartment and assaulted several members. They claimed they were looking to arrest a wanted person in a rural Roma-majority area. The police report claims they captured the individual but were confronted by a crowd of 50 Roma who threatened them with violence unless they released them.
Nuri Alushi, his son Besnik, the sons of Besnik, Panajot and Nikollaq and a cousin Edmond Balkasi were then assaulted by the police. Reportedly, they also assaulted Besnik’s wife.
The family tried to report the crime but were refused and were also refused a medical report of their injuries while doctors instead issued one to one of the officers. The matter was then reported to the ombudsman.
Fier’s prosecutor’s office then filed charges against five people for obstructing the police. All five were convicted on the statement of one police officer, despite the fact that two family members said they were not at the scene when the alleged assault of officers occurred.
They were found guilty and were sentenced to a short spell in prison. The Court of Appeals in Vlora, the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court also sided with the police.
“With regard to the investigation carried out in the context of the investigations that resulted in the conviction of the applicants, there is no indication that these investigations have followed any other line of inquiry other than the allegation that the applicants obstructed police officers,” the Strasbourg Court notes.
“For example, there was no attempt to find out if the applicants suffered injuries, and if so, if these injuries were caused by excessive police violence. Similarly, there has been no investigation into the applicants’ complaints that they have attempted to undergo a medical examination for the injuries sustained and to file a criminal report,” the decision reads.
The European Court of Human Rights also notes that “domestic courts have failed to take any steps to address applicants’ allegations of ill-treatment or to shed light on the circumstances of the applicants’ injuries.”
The Strasbourg court found no violation of Article 14 of the Convention, which prohibits discrimination based on ethnicity.
“Given the difficulty of proving racial motives in the present case, the Court is unable to find any element that could pave the way for the argument that the authorities ‘failure to investigate the applicants’ allegations raises separate issues under Article 14 of the convention,” says the Court’s decision.
