Human Rights Watch expresses concern in regard to the alleged beating of a human rights lawyer for the Committee for Human Rights, a non-governmental organization in Leskovac, by police officer Goran Velickovic. The human rights lawyer, Dragutin Vidosavljevic, had recently represented a client who was himself severely beaten by Velickovic in July 2003. This case is of particular concern not only because the beating may have been in retaliation for Vidosavljevic’s recent work, but also because Velickovic appears to have a history of ill-treatment and other abusive conduct that has gone unpunished. On behalf of Human Rights Watch, I would like to urge the Serbian Interior Ministry's General Inspectorate to dispatch a team of impartial and qualified investigators to Vlasotince and Leskovac, to carry out a thorough investigation and hold accountable any police officer found to have committed ill-treatment or to have attempted to cover up such abuse.
Dear Sir,
I am writing to you regarding the alleged beating of a human rights lawyer for the Committee for Human Rights, a non-governmental organization in Leskovac, by police officer Goran Velickovic. The human rights lawyer, Dragutin Vidosavljevic, had recently represented a client who was himself severely beaten by Velickovic in July 2003. This case is of particular concern not only because the beating may have been in retaliation for Vidosavljevic’s recent work, but also because Velickovic appears to have a history of ill-treatment and other abusive conduct that has gone unpunished. On behalf of Human Rights Watch, I would like to urge the Serbian Interior Ministry's General Inspectorate to dispatch a team of impartial and qualified investigators to Vlasotince and Leskovac, to carry out a thorough investigation and hold accountable any police officer found to have committed ill-treatment or to have attempted to cover up such abuse.
Dragutin Vidosavljevic reported that he was beaten twice by Officer Velickovic during the early evening of Saturday, July 31, 2005. According to Vidosavljevic, Velickovic was off-duty last Saturday when he spotted Vidosavljevic outside a bookmaker's shop in the center of Vlasotince. Vidosavljevic told Human Rights Watch that Velickovic, who was visibly drunk, insulted him and then proceeded to shout that, just as he had slaughtered people in Kosovo, he would slaughter Vidosavljevic as well. When Vidosavljevic withdrew into the store, Velickovic followed him and insisted that he go home. When Vidosavljevic refused, the policeman allegedly grabbed his throat with one hand and punched him with the other.
Vidosavljevic responded by hitting Velickovic on the head with a juice bottle, cutting the policeman's mouth. In the confusion, Vidosavljevic was able to flee to the police station to report the incident, but was followed there by Velickovic.
The policeman on duty told Vidosavljevic, who was just beginning to give his statement, to leave the office and wait in the hall. Shortly thereafter, according to Vidosavljevic, Velickovic came out of the office and suddenly kicked him in the head.
The next morning, the police in Leskovac issued a communiqué stating that both Velickovic and Vidosavljevic had violated public order and peace. The statement mentioned the policeman’s “minor physical injury” but failed to acknowledge the lawyer’s injuries and the abuse he had allegedly endured at the hands of Velickovic. A statement signed by the doctor who examined Vidosavljevic after the incident documented that Vidosavljevic had a cut on his leg and hematoma on his lip. A neurologist established that Vidosavljevic had a head concussion (contusio capitis). Human Rights Watch is in possession of both documents, which can be obtained from Mr. Vidosavljevic.
While the police communiqué concluded that the police had yet to establish all the facts relating to the incident, it nevertheless placed most of the responsibility for the incident on the human rights lawyer. This is particularly troubling because the police appear to have already determined guilt without having conducted the investigation, thereby raising doubts as to the impartiality of any future investigation they might carry out in the case. We also note that there is a long-established pattern in Serbia of police responding to allegations of police misconduct by claiming that the victims actually attacked the police.
The policeman in question, Goran Velickovic, was recently tried in Vlasotince for beating a man, Slobodan Stojkovic, on July 11, 2003. According to a police report and Stojkovic's testimony, Velickovic severely beat Stojkovic in front of an apartment building and then in a restaurant in Vlasotince. Dragutin Vidosavljevic, the Committee for Human Rights lawyer, assisted Stojkovic in bringing criminal charges against Velickovic. Vidosavljevic suspects that Velickovic may have attacked him in retaliation for the lawyer's involvement in the earlier case.
We urge you, as head of the General Inspectorate, to ensure that an impartial investigation is conducted in this case. We also call on the Ministry of Interior to hold accountable anyone found responsible for ill-treatment or an attempted cover-up. There are serious indicia that in the past years police and the judiciary in the area have blocked efforts by victims of police abuse to obtain justice. According to credible journalists and human rights activists from the region, many ordinary citizens are afraid of Goran Velickovic and his associates in the police and other local government structures. Witnesses in the case of Slobodan Stojkovic apparently were afraid to testify against Velickovic, and the court acquitted him in April. Stojkovic told Human Rights Watch that he did not appeal the judgment because of the threats he and his sister had received during the trial from persons close to Velickovic. In such an environment, it would be particularly important that any investigation into the latest incident be carried out by professional investigators from another region of the country.
The duty to investigate this case is all the more urgent in that the U.N. Human Rights Committee’s Concluding Observations on Serbia and Montenegro, from July 2004, called on the government to “take firm measures to eradicate all forms of ill-treatment by law enforcement officials, and ensure prompt, thorough, independent and impartial investigations into all allegations of torture and ill-treatment, prosecute and punish perpetrators, and provide effective remedies to the victims.”
Thank you for your attention to this serious matter.
Sincerely,
/s/
Holly Cartner
Executive Director
Europe and Central Asia division
Human Rights Watch
CC:
Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica
Minister of Interior Dragan Jocic
