Five police officers accused of torture by NHRCK

Posted on : 2010-06-17 11:51 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
The NHRCK has requested that prosecutors open investigations or bring charges against five police officers at the Yangcheon Station

Controversy raged in the wake of an announcement Wednesday by the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) that acts of torture took place at a Seoul Police Station against 22 suspects between August 2009 and March 2010. The Korea National Police Agency (KPNA) has suspended the duties of the police officers in question and is currently carrying out an investigation.

The NHRCK, under Chairperson Hyun Byung-chul, held a public briefing Wednesday where it announced that after receiving a petition in early May. The person who submitted the petition claimed that he was gagged, had Scotch tape wrapped around his face, and was assaulted by police at Seoul’s Yangcheon Police Station who were demanding that he make a confession. The NHRCK exercised its authority to investigate the police station in question.

“In our investigation, we secured testimony from 22 suspects interrogated there who said that they had been subjected to torture and acts of brutality,” the NHRCK said. “We received these accounts through interviews with 32 people who had been transferred to a detention center after questioning at Yangcheon Police Station, and we also secured data supporting the claims of torture.”

According to the NHRCK’s investigation findings, six police officers, including a Yangcheon Police Station detective and violent crimes team leader, committed acts of brutality against a suspect. The crimes were commited in a vehicle transporting the suspect to the station and in the office of the violent crimes team during an investigation on theft charges, with the goal of extracting confessions about accomplices and other crimes.

Police committed acts of torture such as gagging suspects with toilet paper or towels and stomping on their heads, as well as positioning suspects in the so-called “wing-breaking” posture in which their arms are bent upwards while handcuffed behind their backs, the NHRCK said. Most of the 22 suspects, who are all male, were suspected of theft, while a few were being investigated for drug-related crimes.

The NHRCK also said that it obtained work logs for protection officers at the time the suspects were brought into the detention center, as well as evidence of torture through medical supply registers and other sources. The NHRCK also examined hospital medical records for a suspect whose elbow was broken during torture and photographic evidence of a broken prosthetic tooth. While announcing the results of its investigation of closed circuit television evidence from the Yangcheon Police Station’s detective team office, the NHRCK explained, “There is a blind spot in the office where the direction of the camera goes up toward the ceiling, and it coincides exactly with the place indicated by suspects.”

“If one considers various circumstantial evidence and materials, then the suspects’ accounts are reliable and it has been recognized that torture took place,” said NHRCK standing commissioner Yoo Nam-young. “We requested charges or investigations from the prosecutors against five police officers at the Yangcheon Station, and we recommend a full-scale job inspection from the National Police Agency,” Yoo added. The five police officers in question were subsequently suspended.

However, Yangcheon Police Station detective division chief Lee Hae-sik said, “There is no truth to claims that we tortured suspects, and I have no idea on what basis the NHRCK made such an announcement.” Lee added that the station plans to take legal measures if the prosecutors’ investigation shows that the details of the NHRCK’s announcement are not factual.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]

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