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Romania: Police

01 January 1991

Romania: Police
artdoc April=1995

Police harassment against Roma brothers alleged

Amnesty International has taken up the case of two Roma brothers,
Emil and Virgil Macau, who were arrested by the police in
Victoria, Brasov County last year.
Last August, police burst into the apartment of Emil Macau,
saying they were investigating a complaint from a neighbour. Emil
Macau refused to accompany police to the station, denying all
charges. He was subsequently fined. When Emil made a formal
complaint about this treatment, both to the local police
commander and the State Secretary for National Minorities in
Bucharest, a local police officer demanded that he come to the
station to give more information about the complaint. He refused,
and was fined again. Another complaint was submitted, this time
to the President of the Commission for Human Rights of the
European parliament.
The response of the police this time was to launch a search of
the Macau family home. No search warrant was shown. The family
then left Brasov for Bucharest where they spent three weeks and
met with the Human Rights Commission. On returning home, Emil and
Virgil were taken into police custody and charged with disturbing
the peace after resisting arrest. A court in Fagaras found the
two brothers guilty, sentencing Emil to two months imprisonment,
and Virgil to forty days.
Amnesty International has appealed to the Romanian authorities
to review the case (RomaNews 14.6.94).

IRR European Race Audit, Bulletin no 10, September 1994. Contact:
Liz Fekete, Institute of Race Relations, 2-6 Leeke Street, London
WC1X 9HS. Tel: 0171 837 0041