Latest update May 12th, 2024 12:59 AM
Apr 13, 2014 Editorial
The Linden Inquiry was commissioned as a result of widespread concern over police excesses during the July 18, 2012 public disorder event during which three lives were lost, and several persons injured.
Members of the disciplined services must not expect that they can ignore international human rights conventions in the hope of claiming that they were following orders. Moreover, they should expect that when they commit reprehensible acts in the belief that they are fulfilling their political masters’ wishes whether expressed or implied, it will be the violators who will be sanctioned – orders or no orders. The “Nuremberg Defence” will not fly.
The term was originally coined during the war crimes trials at Nuremberg after World War II when war criminals charged with genocide, mass murder, torture and other atrocities used the defence, “I was only following orders” so frequently that the argument became known as “The Nuremberg Defence”.
Nazi war criminal, Adolph Eichmann, did not recognize the verdict of guilty since as he claimed, the atrocities he was accused of committing against the Jewish people were not in accordance with his wishes. He stressed that he was only guilty of being obedient, subordinate to his official duties, his oath of allegiance and his oath of office.
Eichmann, the zealous director of the “final solution” asked for understanding and mercy arguing that his was the obedience of a subordinate; he was hanged in 1961.
For far too long people have come to accept the trampling on human rights by the police in this country with sporadic outbursts of condemnation which quickly die down because of limited attention span or the fact that the immediate past atrocity has been overtaken by another equally gruesome or moreso. What passes for investigations into allegations of misconduct leaves a lot to be desired and therefore it is no wonder that the watching public views the outcomes with cynicism.
Mikhail Belikov, a retired Ukrainian miner, was in June 2013, tortured by three policemen and raped with a baton. Hospital doctors found that he had suffered serious internal injuries which required a temporary colostomy. Two of the officers were charged with torture.
The international convention is that if it is universally known to everyone that an order involves the infringement of the law then there is no justification on the part of anyone to obey such an order. The principle of universal knowledge refutes any argument that subordinates are under no obligation to question an order of their superior officer.
Ironically the Bush Administration in taking a position to defend its rendition programme of enforced ‘disappearances’ from prosecution, provided cover to persons who participated in the extraordinary renditions programme.
They would be entitled to defend themselves by stating that they were informed that the programme was legal in an attempt to give credibility to an illegal practice.
What is of some significance is the escape valve that people have used over time by saying that they are just doing their jobs. This argument may be unintentionally exposing the intense pressure that many people feel to get their jobs done, and may be the reason for unethical, abusive and sometimes illegal police practices that the public is confronted with on an almost daily basis.
The fact that no stringent measures are taken to curb excesses is clear indication that these ranks may just be doing what they are told and what they are told might be the cause of the problems. The recent postings of at least two police officers have understandably raised eyebrows in informed circles, and when taken with remarks made at Bagotville by leading political and pan-African activists, justifiably question the motives behind these placements.
Rumours abound that the possibility of early elections has been the determining factor in two sensitive postings.
Be all that it may, the police like any other service occupation, should be driven by an obligation to make people’s lives better while at the same time prevent them coming to harm. People must be free from profiling, harassment, verbal and physical assault, and from police who refuse to take responsibility for their actions by sheltering under the ‘Nuremberg Defence’.
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