ZAGREB, Nov 11 (Hina) - The Croatian Helsinki Committee (HHO) on Thursday described as "worrying" the "drastic fall of standards in the police treatment of citizens and the guaranteed human rights". "The brutality the police are
demonstrating in the operation "Kor" (a police operation in Croatian restaurants and cafes which started last month) is aimed at intimidating citizens and making them immune to possible repressive measures in case the election results get out of hand", a HHO member Vjekoslav Magas told a news conference in Zagreb, entitled "The Political Abuse of Police for Pre-election Purposes". According to Magas, the police have violated the right to freedom of movement as well as to privacy because some citizens were strip-searched during the operation. The operation also violates Article 6 of the Law on Internal Affairs, which stipulates that the police have to protect the lives of
ZAGREB, Nov 11 (Hina) - The Croatian Helsinki Committee (HHO) on
Thursday described as "worrying" the "drastic fall of standards in
the police treatment of citizens and the guaranteed human rights".
"The brutality the police are demonstrating in the operation "Kor"
(a police operation in Croatian restaurants and cafes which started
last month) is aimed at intimidating citizens and making them
immune to possible repressive measures in case the election results
get out of hand", a HHO member Vjekoslav Magas told a news
conference in Zagreb, entitled "The Political Abuse of Police for
Pre-election Purposes".
According to Magas, the police have violated the right to freedom of
movement as well as to privacy because some citizens were strip-
searched during the operation. The operation also violates Article
6 of the Law on Internal Affairs, which stipulates that the police
have to protect the lives of people and personal dignity.
"There has to be a reason as well as operational indications for
carrying out operations", Magas said, adding a large part of the
'evidence' on positive results of the operation in suppressing
crime, which was presented by Interior Ministry officials, cannot
justify the illegal conduct of the police.
"The police operation should have been selective, because to search
the whole of Zagreb in order to find a dozen criminals means to put
the citizens in the same category with the criminals", HHO acting
executive director Bojan Munjin said.
He added the HHO would carry out a thorough analysis of the
operation and submit its results to the Council of Europe's
commission for the prevention of torture and inhumane police
treatment.
The HHO believes the latest operation is not an isolated case.
"The arbitrariness of the police conduct also in some other cases
points to the existence of elements of a police state", Magas said.
He mentioned the case of Vladimir Marcic, a Serb returnee to
Benkovac, who was illegally detained in the local police station;
the case of Sefik Mujkic, who died during police investigative
proceedings; and the beating up of Ivan Drvis, a National
Democratic Party (NDS) official, in Zagreb early this week.
(hina) mm rml