REDRESS is a human rights organisation that helps torture survivors obtain justice and reparation. REDRESS works with survivors to help restore their dignity and to make torturers accountable.
European Court of Human Rights finds in favour of migrant tortured in Greece17 January 2012 - Today the European Court of Human Rights found that Greek coastguard officials tortured Necati Zontul, a UK/Turkish dual national, when he was raped in detention at the port of Chania, Crete, in 2001 and ordered Greece to pay 50,000 euro in compensation. The judgment in Zontul v. Greece confirmed that Greece breached Article 3 of the Convention (prohibition of torture) on account of the actions of the coastguard officials as well as the failures of the Greek authorities in the internal investigations and the criminal proceedings against the officials. The Court considered that the rape of a detainee by an official of the State was an especially grave and abhorrent form of ill-treatment, amounting to torture in this case. Mr Zontul was in a boat travelling to Italy when it was intercepted by the Greek Coastguard and towed to Hania Harbour in Crete. Once there, the migrant detainees were kept in poor conditions of detention, with severe overcrowding and limited access to basic amenities. A coastguard trapped Mr Zontul in the toilets and forced him to remove his clothes. He then raped him with a truncheon. The Greek authorities were heavily criticised for their internal investigation of the incident, where they falsified the Applicant's evidence, recording the rape as a "slap" and "use of psychological violence". The Court also found that the criminal penalty imposed on the perpetrator of the rape, a suspended sentence commuted to a small fine, was insufficient. Carla Ferstman, director of REDRESS, who brought the application on behalf of Mr Zontul, said: "The Court recognised that rape can be a particularly cruel form of torture, and that Greece didn’t adequately punish the perpetrators or afford redress to Mr Zontul. We hope this judgment will lead to changes in the way that Greece handles such cases in future." Find the ECtHR's press release HERE. For further information, please contact Jehangir Jilani (jehangir@redress.org) or Eva Sanchis (eva@redress.org) at +44 (0) 20 7793 1777.
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Latest newsFlawed Torture Inquiry scrapped: need remains to establish truth of UK complicity in torture18 January 2012 - REDRESS reacts to the news that the Detainee Inquiry into British complicity in torture will be abandoned by the UK Government following the launch of fresh criminal investigations into claims of ill-treatment in Libya. UNHRC: Sri Lanka is responsible for the death of torture victim16 January 2012 - The UN Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) has found that the Sri Lankan Government is responsible for the death of Sugath Nishanta Fernando, a torture victim of Negombo. Mr Fernando was shot and killed in 2008, a few days before he was due to give evidence against the alleged perpetrators of torture against him and his family. REDRESS, together with the Asian Legal Resource Centre and the Rehabilitation and Research Centre for Torture Victims, submitted a complaint to the UNHRC in 2009 on behalf of Mr Fernando's wife. For further information, please contact Sarah Fulton on sarah@redress.org. REDRESS and other human rights groups urge David Cameron to remedy shortcomings in the Detainee Inquiry6 January 2012 - In a letter to the Prime Minister, seventeen human rights experts and groups criticise the Detainee Inquiry as "deficient" after new allegations emerged of Britain's involvement in renditions to Libya. In the letter, the groups state that "the powers currently given to the Inquiry are seriously deficient and that it will be unable to properly fulfil the UK's human rights obligations.” For further information, please contact Kevin Laue on kevin@redress.org |
