ECHR dismisses allegations of ill-treatment of Kenyan suspect by police

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Tuesday dismissed allegations of ill-treatment of a Kenyan national by the Cyprus police during his deportation from the island in 2005.

Delivering its judgement on the Thuo v. Cyprus case, the court found however that the investigation had been ineffective, and noted a violation with regard to the conditions of detention pending the applicant’s deportation.

According to an ECHR announcement, David William Thuo did not submit a claim for just satisfaction.

He was arrested after trying to travel to London from Larnaca Airport on a forged passport. When released in November 2005, he was immediately re-arrested and placed in immigration detention in Nicosia Central Prison pending his deportation. He was deported about 16 months later, on 9 March 2007, his application for asylum having been rejected.

The applicant alleged that immigration officers beat him in Nicosia Central Prison before transporting him to the airport, where he was beaten again. He also alleged that he was gagged at the airport, with officials stuffing paper into his mouth, which they sealed with airline tape and then secured with bandages.

Once in Kenya, Thuo lodged complaints and during an official investigation, launched in July 2009, he presented authorities with a medical certificate issued by a public hospital in Nairobi to attest his claims.

The accused officers denied any ill treatment, saying that they had to intervene at the airport, in order to stop Thuo from hurting himself. In July 2010, the authorities accepted the officers’ testimony that the use of force had been necessary and concluded that Thuo had lied for financial gain or to stay in Cyprus. The Attorney General of Cyprus also endorsed these findings.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.