The latest episode of police violence in Romania is the beating of journalist Ștefan Mako, who was taken away and beaten for filming two officers kicking and punching another citizen. Civil society groups are now calling for firm measures against this outrageous behavior, including closing the Bucharest police station that hosted many of the beatings.

Mr. Mako was bicycling in the center of Bucharest on November 10 when he saw two officers kicking a man as they pinned him to the ground. The journalist was filming the beating with his phone when a plainclothes officer approached him and told him to get away.

He refused, claiming he was in a public space, and then followed the officers as they took the arrested man to the nearby station. Mr. Mako was standing outside when he was grabbed by two other policemen and taken inside, where he was interrogated and abused. He was then released and went to the hospital, where doctors diagnosed "blunt thoracic trauma."

Station 10

The civil society organization APADOR-CH has been approached by three others who, like Mr. Mako, complained of abuse by officers working at Bucharest Police Station 10. Each victim described being arrested, taken into a room in the station and verbally and physically abused.

APADOR-CH has made official complaints to police internal affairs officials, resulting in two of the cases being taken over by prosecutors. The NGO has also asked the General Police Inspectorate to close Police Station 10 and transfer its officers to the main headquarters.

Coordinated abuse

A request has also been made for a general investigation into police behavior in Bucharest’s central Old Town, where Police Station 10 is located. Police officers from different stations sometimes work together in beating citizens, picking them up from Old Town and taking them to special locations outside the area and out of sight from their superiors.

Romania’s failure to act against police violence has brought the country condemnation from the Court of Human Rights. The most recent decision, Flămânzeanu v. Romania, found that Romania violated a man’s rights by failing to investigate his beating at the hands of police. There are currently several other cases before the court that were prompted by Romania’s failure to investigate police abuse.

Watch the video

Here is the video shot by journalist Ștefan Mako, right before he was detained and beaten. This is only a fragment of the recording, which was recovered from his phone despite police efforts to erase it.