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17 August 2006
MADRID — Human rights group Amnesty International launched an appeal on Thursday to prevent the expulsion of a Colombian woman who is a witness in a case of presumed sexual abuse by police officers.
The alleged incident happened at an immigrant detention centre in Malaga.
A number of police officers have been detained.
To prevent her deportation, AI is urging people from all parts of the world to send messages to Spain’s interior minister, Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba; attorney general, Candido Conde-Pumpido; and security secretary, Antonio Camacho.
AI said it was concerned the deportation of this witness “will perpetuate the climate of impunity for police officers in Spain”.
The move came after an official in Malaga, Hilario Lopez Luna, said all the women who remain at the centre and are implicated in the alleged sexual abuse – whether as supposed victims or as witnesses – will be expelled from the country since prosecutors have not requested that their deportation orders be suspended.
According to AI, the Colombian woman identified as witness number 01-09-JF is one of the six “key” witnesses against police officers at the Malaga detention centre.
Three women have already been deported and another two have been released.
Witness 01-09-JF remains in Malaga “where she could be at risk of reprisals by officials and the police,” said AI.
The group called for the woman to be placed in a witness protection programme and to receive legal and financial assistance.
According to the human rights group, she is scheduled to be deported on Thursday.
AI said that since 2002 it has released several reports urging Spanish authorities to tackle gender-based violence from a human rights perspective, but added that complaints of “mistreatment,” including sexual abuse, from immigrants and asylum seekers persist.
[Copyright EFE with Expatica]
Subject: Spanish news