Biting Congolese prevents deportation again

1 August 2005

BRUSSELS — A rejected Congolese asylum seeker has prevented his deportation from Belgium for a second time by biting and injuring accompanying police officers.

The deportation was aborted for fear of further trouble on the flight. However, the man was arrested this time.

The Congolese man previously caused commotion on a flight to Kinshasa last month when he bit two police officers, firstly as he was being taken to the plane and again when on broad.

Despite protests from police and unions, the asylum seeker was not prosecuted and instead, was placed in detention to simply wait for another flight to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Federal police again tried to deport the man on Thursday 28 July by placing him on an SN Brussels Airline flight to Kinshasa.

This time, the man waited until the other passengers were on the plane before he started to bite and kick. The injured police officers were examined on Friday.

The police union NSPV said one of the officers was bitten and another was kicked in the groin, newspaper ‘De Standaard’ reported on Saturday.

The man had also started shouting and in consultation with the airline’s safety officer and the flight captain, it was decided to take the asylum seeker off the plane. The delayed flight then departed.

However, Brussels Court has ordered the arrest of the man on charges of violence against police officers.

After the death of Nigerian asylum seeker Sémira Adamu during her forced deportation in 1998, a government-appointed commission drew up new proposals for future repatriations.

It urged that resisting asylum seekers be made aware that resistance will only lead to prosecution and renewed deportation attempts. Not punishing such crimes would only lead to de facto impunity, it said.

Subject: Belgian news