Germany: Asylum seeker burned to death in prison cell
01 January 2005
On 7 January 2005, a Sierra Leonean asylum seeker burned to death in a prison cell of the police station at Dessau, Saxon-Anhalt, while his arms and legs were cuffed to the bed. After weeks of silence, and increasing public pressure the state attorney has begun investigating the case.
21-year old Oury Jalloh was arrested and detained for public order offences. He was drunk and on drugs. Before being put in a cell he was searched and his pockets emptied, although nothing was found on him, as police witnesses testified. He resisted detention but the media suggests that this could have been due to the fact that no interpreter was present and that the detainee did not understand was happening to him. Because of his resistance, his arms and legs were handcuffed to a bench he was lying on. The rest of the cell was an empty, tiled room in the basement of the police station. The police claim that his condition was checked every 30 minutes, as is usual in such cases.
However, because of the noise the detainee made, the officer in charge turned off the intercom system, which is meant to alert officers to any unexpected events in the cell. Even more disturbing is the fact that the fire alarm was switched off. Only when police officers went downstairs to check on their prisoner did they discover a fire. By then Oury Jalloh was dead.
The state attorney's investigation has brought to light the following facts:
1. that the detainees mattress was made of almost inflammable material and could only be ignited by lighting the filling.
2. that the hands and ankles of the detainee were fractured.
3. that the police claim that the fire alarm was switched off because of earlier false alarms was false (a test proved that it worked perfectly).
4. that initially, no lighter was found. It was produced only weeks after the fire.
5. that an officer was lying when he told the state attorney that he went down to the basement when the fire alarm went on. A colleague testified that he did not go down to the basement but switched off the alarm.
6. that the officer in charge was suspected of involvement in a similar case in 2002. In the same police cell, another detainee died from a fractured skull and internal injuries. Then, the investigations were terminated. Now charges are to be made.
The questions the state attorney's report raises are the following: Where was the lighter kept after the fire? How could the detainee keep a lighter despite the fact that he was searched and his pockets emptied? How could he possibly have set fire to the mattress whilst handcuffed to the bench? How could an inflammable mattress catch fire so quickly? Why were no attempts made to extinguish the fire and to rescue the detainee?
Opposition in parliament and the media suspect that the authorities have been trying to cover-up the whole incident. They are also critical of the fact that no regret has been expressed. Meanwhile, the officer in charge has been suspended and the state attorney is investigating the police officers for grievous bodily harm with the consequence of death.
DPA, 17.1.05; Süddeutsche Zeitung 18.1.05