“After seeing the images in the media, the Standing Committee P asked the Commissioner General of the Federal Police to be carefully kept informed of the progress of the disciplinary investigation,” he said.
The Committee’s investigation service was seized in 2018 by the Charleroi examining magistrate in order to carry out certain acts of investigation into this case, which involves federal police officers. He also received a complaint which was forwarded to the examining magistrate to be added to the case. The investigation service is one of the sections of the Committee and acts on behalf of the judicial authorities within the framework of the secrecy of the investigation. The Control Committee however asked to be informed of any “organizational or structural dysfunctions in the context of this judicial investigation”.
The Minister of the Interior, Pieter De Crem, explained Thursday afternoon that he had asked the Commissioner General that the Police Inspectorate open a file on two facts, namely the Hitler salute made by a policewoman during the intervention of the officers to subdue the victim, a 38-year-old Slovak national, and the “devil’s sign” made by one of his colleagues in the direction of the camera. The death itself is the subject of judicial investigation.
Faced with the reactions aroused by this affair, the National Union of Police and Security (SNPS) provided details on Thursday on this Nazi salute. According to his information, the agent in question shows his superior, who is not visible on the images, the gesture that the victim made several times to the police during his arrest, qualifying them as “Gestapo”.
“We are therefore far from the voluntary Nazi greeting of a fascist agent”, he assures us.
The director general of the federal police, André Desenfants, is withdrawing, we confirmed to a good source after information disseminated by “Het Laatste Nieuws” and the VRT. This decision follows the revelation of the circumstances surrounding the death of Slovak national, Jozef Schovanek.
The number 2 of the federal police took office at the end of 2017, a few weeks before the death of Mr. Schovanek. In particular, he oversees the aeronautical police whose intervention is questioned in this case.
The dissemination of the images of this intervention raises many questions and aroused a concert of indignation. Interior Minister Pieter De Crem said he was shocked. He asked the General Inspectorate of Police to initiate a disciplinary investigation.
Mr. Desenfants said he was deeply touched by the facts. “I cannot tolerate some of the things that I have seen,” he said, assuring that he only discovered the images after they were released in the media.
“As soon as I became aware of this information and these images, I took my responsibilities and requested the opening of an investigation,” he added.
Mr. Desenfants wants the police to have urgent access to the judicial file still under investigation to see what measures can be taken on various aspects, including the disciplinary aspect.
“I want to know why I was not aware of all the facts that took place,” he explained.
In the meantime, the number 2 of the police felt that he was hampered in the exercise of his mandate. He therefore personally asked the Commissioner General, Marc Demesmaeker, to be temporarily replaced.
Amnesty calls for a full investigation
Amnesty International is calling for an in-depth investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of the passenger at Charleroi-Brussels South Airport (BSCA), the organization announced on Thursday, saying it was “shocked” by the images of the intervention unveiled on Wednesday.
The case, under investigation for two years, rebounded Wednesday with the dissemination in the press of surveillance camera images of this police intervention. These revelations preceded the announcement Thursday of the withdrawal of the director general of the federal police, André Desenfants. The number 2 of the federal police took office at the end of 2017, a few weeks before the death of Mr. Schovanek.
The facts date back to February 23, 2018 at Charleroi airport (BSCA). 38-year-old Jozef Chovanec had caused difficulties for staff when boarding for Bratislava, Slovakia. The federal airport police were then required to control him and the passenger rebelled on the tarmac.
Placed in a cell in the premises of the federal police, he had given himself violent blows, forcing the police to intervene again to control him. During this operation, the individual suffered cardiac arrest and died a few days later.
“The images we have are incomplete and scattered, but they seem to indicate that Jozef Chovanec was in a state of confusion, inflicting blows on himself and needed help,” explains Philippe Hensmans, director of the section. French-speaking Belgian from Amnesty International. “The way the police intervened is unjustifiable. We call for a full investigation into the facts and into the horrific atmosphere that seemed to reign during the incident. “
“We must also shed light on the lack of internal action. It is incomprehensible that we have to wait for such images to be transmitted to the media so that measures, moreover very light, are taken, ”points out Philippe Hensmans.
In view of the facts, which are reminiscent of those which led to the death of Jonathan Jacob after the intervention of agents in a cell of the Mortsel police station in 2010, Amnesty International calls on the competent authorities to carry out studies , beyond specific cases, on police violence, in particular when it results in injury or death. “It is also necessary to determine whether the protocols, in the case of problematic medical situations, are sufficient”, further denounces the organization.
Together with the platform ‘Pas Normal – Stop au profilage ethnique’ of which it is part, the latter also requests that an investigation be carried out to determine whether racism was a factor that played during the intervention at Charleroi airport. .
In its press release, Amnesty also points to the political failure represented by the failure to put in place the structures necessary to prevent or better apprehend such tragedies. “Belgium continues to refrain from developing structures intended to prevent this type of tragedy as much as possible. Particularly illustrative, since 2005, all successive governments have promised to comply with international standards relating to the monitoring of places of detention. It is clear that these promises have remained a dead letter, ”regrets Philippe Hensmans.
Belgium has declared since 2005 that it wants to ratify the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention against Torture. “To this end, a national preventive mechanism must be put in place to prevent and combat abuse, ill-treatment and torture in all places of detention,” Amnesty International recalls. “Fifteen years after Belgium signed the Protocol, the message our authorities are sending us is still the same: ‘we’re working on it’. “
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