The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) dismissed the request of the Public Defender of Rights (GTC) Robert Dobrovodsky for an intervention in an international complaint related to the death of the Slovak citizen Jozef Chovanec at Charleroi Airport, Belgium. The case concerns charges of arbitrary use of police force and alleged violation of the right to the life of a Slovak citizen. TASR informed the Ombudsman spokesman Branislav Gigac.
Dobrovodský wanted to speak as a third party in the case to provide the court with its knowledge of wider systemic issues related to the disproportionate use of police force. “As a public defender of rights, representing an independent constitutional institution protecting fundamental rights and freedoms, I have considered it important to participate in the present proceedings in order to support justice and alerts to disproportionate use of police force and impunity,” justified the GTC.
Although the intervention was not allowed in this case, The Public Defender of Rights will continue to monitor its development and continue the efforts to protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens of Slovakia.
Jozef Chovanec died in a hospital in Belgium on February 27, 2018, three days after a police intervention in a cell at Charleroi Airport. He was detained before departure on an aircraft heading for Slovakia for being allegedly behaved aggressively to the crew and against the summoned police officers.
In August 2020, video recordings from a police cell escaped on which to see how Inmate’s self -harm: banging his head against the door of the cell and bleeding. Subsequently, the police try to spacify him. The man has a face covered with a blanket, The cops laugh and one policeman raises his hand and hajli.
The Belgian doctors’ opinion showed that The cause of the inmate’s death was strong head impacts that caused him to swell the brain. At the same time, doctors noted that the cessation of heart activity was triggered by the injection from the healthcare professionals who tried to calm him down.
Belgian court last year in September He brought a judgment that no one is criminal liability for the death of the inmate and it was a regrettable concurrence of tragic circumstances. The Minister of Foreign Affairs Juraj Blanár (Smer-SD) then described the decision as scandalous and announced that the Slovak Republic will file a complaint against the ECtHR in Strasbourg against the judgment.
The Slovak Republic filed on 27 February international A complaint to the European Court of Human Rights against the Belgian Kingdom In connection with the death of Jozef Chovanec at Charleroi Airport.
