The monitoring of a return flight of Afghan nationals from Munich to Kabul (Afghanistan) on 14 August 2018 is the subject of a new report published today by the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) (see the executive summary)
Along with the German government response, the report is based on a CPT visit to Germany from 13 to 15 August 2018 to assess the return flight of the Afghan nationals, carried out under the authority of the German Federal Police and in co-operation with the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex). In its fifth examination of a removal operation by air, the CPT delegation observed all stages of the operation, including preparations at Eichstätt Prison (Centre for detention pending deportation).
The CPT concludes that the operation was well prepared and generally carried out in a professional manner. Detained persons were treated correctly by escorting police officers, with one exception. The exception concerns the apparent ill-treatment of a returnee on board the aircraft who violently resisted his removal. The CPT recommends that techniques which impede a person’s capacity to breath and/or inflict severe pain to gain compliance (i.e. squeezing a person’s genitals) must not be applied by police escorts. Further, all escorting police officers should wear means of identification during removal operations and the overall number of trained escorts should be increased.
