GERMANY: Cameroonian dies after being force-fed emetic
01 November 2001
On 9 December, 19 year-old Cameroonian Achidi J. fell into a coma and was declared brain dead after a public prosecutor ordered police to force-feed him an emetic (Ipecacuanha) to make him vomit. Achidi is the first person to die in Hamburg from this practice since its introduction in July. The use of emetics has increased in Hamburg since a far-right Senate was elected on 14 July and it is invariably Africans, suspected of drug-dealing, on whom it is used. On 10 December, around 500 people demonstrated in Hamburg city centre and in front of the forensic department of the responsible clinic, in protest at racist police practices.
Far from being used merely to find drugs, the use of emetics have been used as a means of torture by police officers. Research by the Anti-Rassismus Büro Bremen uncovered police misconduct in Bremen since 1992, when victims reported arbitrary arrest, physical and verbal abuse, electric shocks and beatings by the regional drugs squad. Between 1992 and 1997, the monitoring group observes, Ipecacuanha has been used around 600 times, almost exclusively on Africans. Of 400 cases between 1992 and 1994, only half have led to the detection of drugs in the stomach.
Amnesty International has declared the use of emetics a "cruel, inhumane and derogatory treatment" which, in 90% of all cases, is applied to black people. The police method is known to be dangerous, in many cases leading to emergency treatment and hospitalisation. One young African who publicised his ordeal in 1996 was again force-fed with the syrup the following year with the doctor's explanation: "...for all the stupid things you did last year". The Anti-Rassismus Büro faced four charges for "inciting racial hatred" (against the German police, not the African victims) after conducting and publicising their research and the confiscation of their brochure on the police misconduct.
The Hamburg Medical Council has repeatedly condemned the forced use of emetics and has again demanded an end to the practice. The forensic department of the University Clinic Eppendorf regularly carries out the procedure on behalf the police. Its chairman, Professor Klaus Püschel, rejected any criticism of the practice said in future he would personally carry out force-feeding with Ipecacuanha. Whilst several GAL (Alternative List/Green party) members demanded the immediate abolition of this practice, CDU (Conservative) MP Dietrich Wersich thought the treatment of patients against their will belonged to everyday medical practice - if they suffered from dementia for example.
junge Welt 11.12.2001; taz 11.12.2001. See http://www.is-bremen.de/arab/ for details on the research on racist police practices in Bremen and the use of emetic.