Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/torture/Austria.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Austria. Some of these links may lead to websites
that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false. No
attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on
this page and others to see which aspects of Torture by Authorities are of
particular interest to you. You might
be interested in exploring the moral justification for inflicting pain or
inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment in order to obtain critical
information that may save countless lives, or to elicit a confession for a
criminal act, or to punish someone to teach him a lesson outside of the
courtroom. Perhaps your paper might
focus on some of the methods of torture, like fear, extreme temperatures,
starvation, thirst, sleep deprivation, suffocation, or immersion in freezing water On the other
hand, you might choose to write about the people acting in an official
capacity who perpetrate such cruelty.
There is a lot to the subject of Torture by Authorities. Scan other countries as well as this
one. Draw comparisons between activity
in adjacent countries and/or regions.
Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper
resources that are available on-line. ***
ARCHIVES *** 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Austria U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/austria/
[accessed 4 July
2021] PRISON AND DETENTION
CENTER CONDITIONS There were no
significant reports regarding prison or detention center conditions that
raised human rights concerns. Physical
Conditions: There were no major concerns in prisons and detention centers
regarding physical conditions or inmate abuse. Administration:
Authorities conducted proper investigations of credible allegations of
mistreatment. Independent
Monitoring: The government permitted visits by the Council of Europe’s
Committee for the Prevention of Torture. Freedom House
Country Report 2020 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/austria/freedom-world/2020 [accessed 14 May
2020] F3. IS THERE PROTECTION FROM THE ILLEGITIMATE USE
OF PHYSICAL FORCE AND FREEDOM FROM WAR AND INSURGENCIES? People in Austria
are generally free from the illegitimate use of physical force, war, and
insurgencies. However, terrorist threats are a concern. After the March 2019
terrorist attacks at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, the attacker
connection to the Austrian far-right extremist group, Identitäre
Bewegung Österreich
(IBÖ), were publicized. The ÖVP has promised a ban of IBÖ will be a demand of
their 2020 coalition government. Conditions in prisons
generally meet high European standards. Conclusions and
recommendations of the Committee against Torture U.N. Convention
against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment -- Doc. CAT/C/AUT/4-5
(2010) www1.umn.edu/humanrts/cat/observations/austria2010.html [accessed 21
February 2013] 9. The Committee is
concerned at the restrictions placed by the State party on the exercise of
the right of an arrested or detained person to communicate with counsel and
have counsel present during interrogations. In this respect, it notes with
concern that, pursuant to section 59 (1) of the amended Code of Criminal
Procedure, police officers can monitor contacts between the arrested or
detained person and counsel and exclude the presence of counsel during
interrogations if “it appears necessary to prevent interference in ongoing
investigations or corruption of evidence”. In such a case, an audio or visual
recording of the interrogation must be made if possible (section 164, para.
2, of the Code of Criminal Procedure). The Committee is also concerned at the
content of paragraph 24 of Internal Instruction (Erlass) Ref. BMI
-EE1500/0007-II/2/a/2009 issued by the Federal Ministry of Interior on 30
January 2009, which would seem to infer that there is no obligation on the
part of the police to delay questioning to allow the lawyer to arrive at the
place of interrogation (arts. 2 and 11). 15. The Committee
notes the information provided by the State party on training programmes for
judges, prosecutors, police officers and other law enforcement officials.
However, the Committee regrets the limited information on monitoring and
evaluation of these training programmes and the lack of available information
on the impact of the training conducted and how effective they have been in
reducing incidents of torture and ill-treatment (art. 10). 19. The Committee
regrets the insufficient statistical data on allegations of torture and
ill-treatment provided by the State party as well as the lack of information
on the results of the investigations undertaken in respect of those
allegations. The Committee notes with concern that almost half of the
incidents occurred in 2009 concerned foreigners. In this regard, the
Committee continues to be concerned about the high level of impunity in cases
of police brutality, including that perceived to be racially-motivated. Until
January 2010, allegations of torture and ill-treatment were investigated by
the Bureau for Internal Affairs (BIA), a special unit within the Federal
Ministry of Interior, which informs the competent public prosecutor about the
outcome of the internal enquiry. Although the Bureau of Internal Affairs
provided a copy of its reports to the Human Rights Advisory Board, the
members of this national human rights institution were not mandated to carry
any investigative work. Since the entry into force of the Federal Act on the
Establishment and Organization of the Federal Bureau of Anti-Corruption on 1
January 2010, the BIA was transformed into the Federal Bureau of
Anti-Corruption that, according to the information provided by the
delegation, is “an independent body outside the traditional law enforcement
structures and conducts independent investigation in close cooperation with
the public prosecutors” (arts. 12-13). 20. The Committee
continues to be deeply concerned about the lenient sentences imposed by
Austrian courts in cases of torture or other ill-treatment by law enforcement
officials. The Committee is particularly concerned about the case of Cheibani
Wague, a Mauritanian national, who died on 16 July 2003 in Vienna while being
restrained during his arrest by police officers and a medical emergency team.
In November 2009, the ambulance doctor and one of the police officers
received both a seven month suspended sentence, which was reduced to four
months on appeal in the case of the police officer. The Committee expresses
also its concern at the case of Mike B., a black American teacher who was
beaten up in February 2009 by undercover police officers in the Vienna
underground (arts. 11 and 16). 21. While noting
the information provided by the State party that victims of torture or
ill-treatment have a legal right to obtain compensation, the Committee is
nevertheless concerned at the difficulties that certain victims face
obtaining redress and adequate compensation. The Committee is particularly
concerned about the case of Mr. Bakary Jassay, a Gambian national, who was
abused and severely injured by policemen in Vienna on 7 April 2006, and who
has not received any compensation yet, not even the € 3,000 awarded by the
Court for the damages resulted from the pain and suffering. The Committee
also regrets the lack of statistical data and examples of cases in which
individuals have received such compensation (art. 14). AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL From an old article -- URL not available Article was
published sometime prior to 2015 TORTURE AND OTHER
ILL-TREATMENT
- Austria failed to introduce the crime of torture into its criminal code
despite repeated recommendations by the UN Committee against Torture. Gambian citizen
Bakary J., who was tortured by four police officers in 2006 following an
unsuccessful deportation, had still not received reparation and was at risk
of deportation. His complaint before the European Court of Human Rights was
still pending. In January, the
police officer who in February 2009 injured US citizen Mike B., an
African-American teacher, during a plain-clothes police operation in Vienna,
was sentenced to a fine for grievous bodily harm by the Vienna Regional
Criminal Court. In September, the fine was reduced by the Austrian Supreme
Court. Search … AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL For current
articles:: Search Amnesty
International Website www.amnesty.org/en/search/?q=austria+torture&ref=&year=&lang=en&adv=1&sort=relevance [accessed 25 December
2018] ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61636.htm [accessed 16 January
2013] 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61636.htm [accessed 2 July
2019] TORTURE
AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT – The law
prohibits such practices; however, there were reports that police beat and
abused persons. On July 15, the CPT
reported receiving a "considerable number" of allegations that
police mistreated criminal detainees, primarily in Linz and the surrounding
area, during its April 2004 fact-finding mission. The CPT expressed
particular concern over allegations by juvenile detainees, as young as
fourteen, of physical abuse and threats by police in order to obtain
confessions. The reported abuse included slaps, punches, kicks, blows to the
head, prolonged and tight handcuffing, and combined use of hand and ankle
cuffs linked together for lengthy periods. In several cases, members of the
CPT delegation found marks consistent with allegations that handcuffs had
been applied tightly. The Interior Ministry investigated these cases but
concluded that none of the accusations could be verified. U.S.
Library of Congress - Country Study [dated] Library of Congress
Call Number DB17 .A8 1994 www.loc.gov/collections/country-studies/?q=DB17+.A8+1994 [accessed 17 July
2017] POLICE – The late 1980s
witnessed a growing incidence of complaints alleging police misconduct and
unnecessary use of force. The minister for interior reported that there had
been 2,622 allegations of ill-treatment by the police between 1984 and 1989,
of which 1,142 resulted in criminal complaints leading to thirty three
convictions against police officers. In addition, 120 disciplinary
investigations were carried out, and disciplinary measures were taken against
twenty-six police officers. However, victims of police misbehavior were
liable to be deterred from pressing their complaints because of the risk of
being charged with slander by the accused officers. A new police law that
went into effect in May 1993 stipulates more clearly the limitations on
police conduct and imposes restrictions on holding persons on charges of
aggressive behavior without an appearance before a magistrate. In addition,
leaflets are to be given to detained or arrested persons setting out their
rights, including the right to call a lawyer and to have their own doctors if
medical examinations are required. All
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ARTICLES. Cite this
webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, " Torture by Police, Forced
Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment in the early years of the 21st
Century- Austria", http://gvnet.com/torture/Austria.htm, [accessed
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