Inmates to sue Serbia in Strasbourg court

A group of Nis prison inmates will sue the state of Serbia at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. This was announced yesterday by the Leskovac Human Rights Council, an NGO set to start the proceedings on behalf of the 37 prisoners. Inmates to sue Serbia in Strasbourg court They claim to have suffered police brutality and torture, as MUP Gendarmes and riot policemen restored order during a prison rebellion there in November 2006. The council's chairman, Dobrosav Nesic, said this is the largest case to be sent from Serbia to Strasbourg so far, and added the allegations constitute for the "most brutal torture of prisoners in Europe's modern history". The NGO's legal representative, Dragutin Vidosavljevic, told journalists the inmates, many of whom are still serving time, believe that the Nis Municipal Prosecution did not carry out an impartial investigation into the incidents, and "did not identify the Gendarmes who were beating the prisoners". "Instead of allowing the victims of violence and torture to prove the guilt of their torturers in court, the Nis prosecution said the inmates had engaged in mutual fights, or hurt themselves falling down the stairs," Vidosavljevic told Beta. Now the convicts want the state to pay from EUR 4,000 to EUR 10,000 in damages to each of those who have filed the complaints. The riots in a number of Serbian prisons, including that in Nis, started in the fall of 2006, after inmates began protesting what they saw as slow parliamentary procedure to adopt a new amnesty law. They barricaded themselves in their prison pavilions, at one point resorting to inflicting wounds on themselves, and later to disarming of the prison guards. Gendarmerie and riot police units were deployed in Nis on November 24, to restore order in the penitentiary in a raid that took just over an hour. MUP said at the time that 40 inmates who resisted the police were lightly hurt. Nis Clinical Center director Srbobran Trenkic told reporters that day that his doctors treated 38 inmates, two of which were kept in the hospital, while the rest suffered "minor injuries".

Inmates to sue Serbia in Strasbourg court

They claim to have suffered police brutality and torture, as MUP Gendarmes and riot policemen restored order during a prison rebellion there in November 2006.

The council's chairman, Dobrosav Nešić, said this is the largest case to be sent from Serbia to Strasbourg so far, and added the allegations constitute for the "most brutal torture of prisoners in Europe's modern history".

The NGO's legal representative, Dragutin Vidosavljević, told journalists the inmates, many of whom are still serving time, believe that the Niš Municipal Prosecution did not carry out an impartial investigation into the incidents, and "did not identify the Gendarmes who were beating the prisoners".

"Instead of allowing the victims of violence and torture to prove the guilt of their torturers in court, the Niš prosecution said the inmates had engaged in mutual fights, or hurt themselves falling down the stairs," Vidosavljević told Beta.

Now the convicts want the state to pay from EUR 4,000 to EUR 10,000 in damages to each of those who have filed the complaints.

The riots in a number of Serbian prisons, including that in Niš, started in the fall of 2006, after inmates began protesting what they saw as slow parliamentary procedure to adopt a new amnesty law.

They barricaded themselves in their prison pavilions, at one point resorting to inflicting wounds on themselves, and later to disarming of the prison guards.

Gendarmerie and riot police units were deployed in Niš on November 24, to restore order in the penitentiary in a raid that took just over an hour.

MUP said at the time that 40 inmates who resisted the police were lightly hurt.

Niš Clinical Center director Srbobran Trenkić told reporters that day that his doctors treated 38 inmates, two of which were kept in the hospital, while the rest suffered "minor injuries".