ONE MILLION EUROS FOR THE CHILD BEATEN BY A POLICEMAN AND FORCED TO SWALLOW CIGARETTE BUTTS. REQUEST IN COURT
An investigation carried out in his own style by a young policeman from Iaşi could cause a huge damage to the public budget. The family of a handicapped teenager who was beaten and humiliated by the police agent in the commune demands 1 million euro from him and from the state, claiming the victim suffers serious psychological traumas from the abuses. The police agent was already brought in for investigation by the prosecutors for abusive behavior, but the teenager’s parents are not satisfied: they have requested, a few days ago, that his felony be changed to that of torture. It is only one case of abuse in which the policemen from Iași were involved in the last years. In March, in another similar case, the victim being an adult, ended with sentences for two policemen. Along with the institution they worked for, they were sentenced to pay 17.000 Ron.
Case with torture accusations for judges from Iaşi
A county policeman is accused of beating and humiliating a child with severe handicap after catching him stealing a pack of cigarettes. Felix Cilibiu is judged for abusive behavior by the Court. He could also face a torture accusation if the magistrates will admit a request filed a few days ago by the victim’s parents. Besides the judicial changing of accusation, the minor’s defense asked the court for a record compensation. They are requesting 1 million Euros from the policeman, but also from the County Police Inspectorate. The request is reasoned based on CEDO jurisprudence, institution with a legislation that drastically sanctions these types of cases.
What is the charge
The trial of Iași policeman Felix Cilibiu (PHOTO), from Ţibăneşti, started one year ago, when the agent was sent before the court following an investigation made by the Prosecution office from Iaşi court. Until now, the judges have heard many people who witnessed the horrible act of the agent, who will appear before court in the following period.milion post
The bill of indictment put together by the prosecutors in this case contains incredible details about the manner in which Cilibiu conducted an “investigation” against minor Abel C., now 17 years old. The abuse took place on 23rd of July 2013, when Abel C. was caught after taking a pack of cigarettes from counter of a shop in Ţibăneşti commune. Abel suffers from severe handicap and was in the shop with two other children.
Cilibiu decided to punish the minors by putting many cigarettes in their mouths and then lighting them. He didn’t stop there, according to the prosecutors: „The defendant Cilibiu Felix placed the children Abel C. on his knees, stroke his face and the ribs area with his palm, stomped his feet with the boots, lighted a cigarette and forced the children to inhale, then he forced the minor to chew the rest of the cigarettes. He spat the victim’s cousin and cursed a few times”, found out the prosecutors. The agent also wanted to beat him with a cane, but he was stopped by the shop girl who was also his lover. Abel was finally allowed to go home and was given candies to keep silence about the abuse. His grandmother was the one asking the authorities intervention, followed by an investigation.
How the family justifies the 1 million Euros compensation
Those attending to Abel C. say 1 million Euro is justified by the humiliation he suffered. They invoke also the fact that the minor was left with traumas after suffering humiliation by the policeman and invoke the CEDO jurisprudence to convince the judges to accept: „The incident left him psychologically traumatized and will shadow his entire life, eliminating any chance to reduce his handicap and lead a normal life. And all these because, to his bad luck, his first contact with the authorities took place into an Auschwitz like context: he was forced to kneel, hit with boots and forced to eat a cigarette butt”, is mentioned in the request.
The same document also states that Felix Cilibiu abused his function to start the “investigation of his life” and compares his deed with the scene from the movie Reconstituirea, of Lucian Pintilie, in which the socialist militia reconstitutes a fight between two young men and provoking a murder. „Such things should never happen in the 21st century. For the broken soul of the victim, the defendant must pay financially and in court.
Also guilty of what happened and have to pay are those who allowed him to wear the uniform – they facilitated the access into the system although an army of psychologists were hired to detect violent disposition, paving way for the humiliation and beating of a 15 years old child”, is stated in the request. Also the lawyer of Abel C., Gianina Poroşnicu, said: „The policeman behavior is unacceptable and his deed is horrific. Such individuals have no place in Police”.
Police reactions
Immediately after he was humiliated by the policeman Felix Cilibiu, Abel C. received professional counseling from the General Direction of Social Assistance. “A.C. presents a symptomatology of stress and generalized anxiety as a result of physical abuses that jeopardizes the existential integrality of the child”, established the representatives of Child Protection in Iaşi.
The reporter from „Ziarului de Iaşi” demanded a point of view from the IPJ Iaşi concerning the compensations from the institution by the family of Abel C. They refused to provide an answer until the stop-press. Felix Cilibiu was brought to justice and only executes tasks specifically assigned by his superiors. He was not able to be contacted to express his point of view.
Recently cases of policemen sentenced to pay
In the last years, many policemen from Iaşi County were sentenced for abuses against people they were investigating at the time, sometimes even when the abuses were directed against more dangerous people than 15 years old child with handicap. In Novenber 2015, four policemen from Precint 2 were brought to justice after they beat or assisted without intervening in the aggression of a man who refused to identify himself.
Another case was sent to trial in 2014, when two policemen crushed the fingers of a man they were investigating as they forced him to “crawl and hiss like an adder”. The policemen Bogdan Petianu and Constantin Vîrlan received each 1 year and 3 months prison suspended sentenced and had to pay, along with Iaşi Police 17.000 RON as moral compensation.