The investigation into the suspicious death of a Slovak in 2018 at the Belgian airport in Charleroi, following a brutal police intervention, does not allow "
at this stage
" to incriminate the police officials, said Wednesday. the Attorney General of Mons, Belgium.
"
Contrary to what has been said, it does not seem proven, at this stage of the investigation, that the actions taken by the police are the direct cause of the death of the victim
", wrote in a press release this senior magistrate , Ignacio de la Serna.
"
This is the crux of the investigation,
" he continues, and "
in the current state of expertise, there is no evidence of any sign of chest compression exerted by the police which would be related to the death of the victim
”.
Read also: Belgium: a Nazi salute during a brutal police intervention creates controversy
On the evening of February 23, 2018, at Charleroi airport (south), Jozef Chovanec, a 38-year-old Slovak, was disembarked from a plane bound for Bratislava because of his behavior considered aggressive.
On the tarmac, he had rebelled, causing a scuffle during which two police officers were injured, according to the elements of the investigation.
Placed in the cell, he continued to be violent, banging his head against the door - "
several dozen times
" according to M. de la Serna - to the point of bleeding profusely from the face.
It was "
following the administration of a sedative
" by first-aid doctors, intervening around 5:00 am, that he had a cardiac arrest, according to the Attorney General.
He died in hospital on February 27, 2018.
"Inhuman treatment"
The case resurfaced at the end of August because the widow of the victim, a civil party in the proceedings, took the initiative to deliver an unprecedented video footage to a Belgian media.
In these CCTV footage, viewed by AFP, several police officers can be seen wrapping Mr. Chovanec in a blanket to subdue him and one of the officials sit on him.
Some seem to be amused by the situation, and a policewoman gives a brief Hitler salute.
This affair greatly moved in Slovakia, where the head of diplomacy Ivan Korcok called on the Belgian authorities to investigate "
in a responsible and vigorous manner
".
In a resolution voted on Wednesday, the Slovak Parliament urged the government to obtain an explanation in Brussels on the "
inhuman treatment
" suffered by a Slovak citizen in another EU country.
Read also: Slovakia "shocked" after a case of police violence in Belgium
In Belgium, for two weeks, the case caused the temporary sidelining of two senior police officials.
It also put the former Minister of the Interior in difficulty, the Flemish nationalist Jan Jambon, accused by the opposition of having acted with “a
lot of lightness
” when his cabinet was informed of the facts, in March 2018. He was criticized in particular for not having initiated any disciplinary proceedings against the police.
