“NO ONE is above the law, especially the police,” said Nicosia Police Chief Kypros Michaelides yesterday, commenting on allegations that police beat, verbally abused and mocked a teenager during questioning because he was black.
Three separate investigations will be launched following revelations that Henry Taylor was the alleged victim of physical and racist abuse by police last week.
Michaelides said an investigating officer has already been appointed to look into the allegations, while Taylor also lodged a complaint with the Ombudswoman’s Office yesterday.
Georgios Karas from the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) said its five-member committee would convene today to discuss the issue. The seriousness of the charges meant it was “likely” the independent authority would launch an investigation on its own initiative.
The latest incident has thrown the spotlight back on a police force, whose image has taken a battering in recent months following numerous allegations of “septic” corruption and scandal.
The 18-year-old told the Cyprus Mail earlier this week that he was beaten around the head and racially taunted during questioning at Strovolos traffic police headquarters on March 10 over a missing moped.
Taylor, who is originally from Zimbabwe but has lived in Cyprus with his mother and three sisters for eight years, insisted it was a case of mistaken identity. But when he tried to tell the officers, they repeatedly punched him on the head and back and shoved him around, he said. He was later treated at Nicosia general hospital.
Taylor was released after nearly three hours at the station. But before going, he was forced to wipe his own blood from the cabinet where he’d hit his head, alleged the 18-year-old. Police also told him to wash his face in another bathroom “so that we don’t get a disease”, he added.
Since then, police have called him almost every day asking him to return to the station to give further information. It is believed police have located the original suspect in the bike case and want Taylor to make a new statement.
Terrorised by past events and fearful of reprisals following his public allegations against the police, the 18-year-old has ignored their calls.
The head of Nicosia police, Michaelides, told the Cyprus Mail yesterday that an in-depth investigation would be carried out and responsibility apportioned where it is due.
“No one, whether police or citizen, is allowed to use violence against anyone. This is clear. No one is above the law, especially the police,” he said.
The senior officer also noted that after three decades in the force, he had come across many false claims of police abuse, particularly after someone had confessed to a crime.
However, Michaelides acknowledged that Taylor had not been charged with any crime nor confessed to one. The fact that Taylor’s signed statement from March 10 included a sentence ruling out the use of force or pressure by his inquisitors was also a little suspect, he noted.
“If it transpires that the allegations are true, then action will be taken against those accused,” he said.
“We will not hesitate, as has been shown recently with our actions against police officers who broke the law,” he added.
Asked whether the force could make it easier to ascertain the validity of police abuse claims by introducing cameras during questioning, Michaelides said there was no provision for that in the law.
Migrant support group (KISA) head, Doros Polycarpou highlighted that the police were not infallible and should not be made to look so. He pointed to a number of cases where police were found to have made false statements, including the beating of two young myn in Acropolis and the saga of the escaped convict Antonis Kitas.
Polycarpou further argued that the Police Complaints Authority was not an effective institution to guard against police abuse of power.
“They have more powers than the Ombudswoman. They can call police in for questioning and punish them if found to be lying. But we have doubts as to their effectiveness,” he said.
Polycarpou questioned why their reports were never given to the victims of police abuse. He charged the independent authority with acting like an internal organ of the police force.
“No explanations are given as to how they reach their conclusions. They write a report and give it to the Attorney-general to look at. But what about the victim? What about compensation? There is no transparency.”
The NGO head referred to one incident where a migrant had allegedly been beaten by police and threatened with deportation on a Friday. The PCA said they couldn’t do anything until the following week when the committee convenes.
“They said, if the victim was still on the island by next Thursday when they meet, they would start an investigation, but what good is that?” asked Polycarpou.
