UPDATE: Meanwhile, police abuse in Romania continues. A journalist was physically assaulted by police officers when he started filming them abusing yet another citizen. After the incident, the journalist was taken to the police station, where the very same officers continued the abuse and deleted what he had recorded. These are the only images we were able to recover:

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), in its November 4 ruling on Flamanzeanu v. Romania, has found human rights violations in the case of a man allegedly beaten by police. Romania violated the applicant's right not to be subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment.

Abuse in custody

Marian Flămânzeanu, born in 1981, sought justice before the court for the inhuman and degrading treatment he was subjected to by policemen from his village, Letca Nouă, in Giurgiu County, Romania. He alleged that they beat him while he was in custody due to pending legal proceedings against him. He was also physically abused by police officers from neighboring Teleorman County, who were conducting their own investigation and used violence in order to force a confession from Mr. Flămânzeanu.

The ECtHR's ruling found that state authorities did not conduct an effective investigation into the events and did not make an effort to punish the perpetrators, therefore violating the procedural aspect of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The state must now pay Mr. Flămânzeanu 7,500 euros for non-pecuniary damage.

This is by no means the first case in which a Romanian citizen brought a case before the ECtHR alleging inhuman treatment by the country’s law enforcement officers. APADOR-CH, which supported the case of Mr. Flămânzeanu, has brought several similar cases to the court, such as Olteanu v. Romania, Carabulea v. Romania and Cobzaru v. Romania.

Police violence ongoing

The ECtHR has condemned Romania in each and every such case, yet nothing has changed in the way the police behave. Law enforcement officers continue to assault citizens, and the domestic judicial system seems unable to stop these abuses.

Such cases are far from being isolated. Several citizens approach APADOR-CH every week to say they have had violent contact with the police and they need legal support to bring criminal complaints. One of the most atrocious cases, from earlier this year, is that of Daniel Dumitrache, a young man who was beaten to death in the garage of a Bucharest police station.

APADOR-CH is leading two other cases involving police violence, which are pending before the ECtHR: the case of Serban Marinescu and the case of Iacov Stanciu.

Other cases of police violence and abuse can be found here.