Report on the case of Marian Predică
Marian Predică, 20, detainee at Bucureşti-Rahova Maximum Security Penitentiary, died on October 5th, 2003, at the University Hospital in Bucureşti. He had been brought to hospital on October 1st, 2003, in a state of coma following an intracerebral hemorrhage.
On the 3rd and 4th of November 2003, two representatives of APADOR-CH discussed with Marian Predică’s family and, subsequently, went to the Bucureşti-Rahova Maximum Security Penitentiary, at the University Hospital and at the „Mina Minovici” Forensic Institute, in order to investigate the circumstances of his death.
1. The version of the family
Marian Predică was arrested in March 2000 and was transferred to the Bucureşti Rahova Penitentiary in 2003. On September 21st, 2003, Marian’s parents visited him and were able to see that he was in good health. During the visit, the detainee did not complain about any violent act against him, although he did mention that the penitentiary staff treated detainees more roughly than in Jilava Penitentiary, where he had been imprisoned first.
On September 25th, 2003, Marian Predică was taken to the Supreme Court of Justice, for his appeal. His father, Ion Predică, was present at the hearing and was able to see that his son did not bear any signs of physical violence.
In the morning of October 6th, 2003, Ion Predică was informed by two police non-commissioned officers that he was expected immediately at the Rahova Penitentiary. There, he was told that his son had died and that the body was at the University Hospital. At the hospital, Ion Predică found out that Marian had been admitted on October 1st, and had deceased on October 5th, around 18.00 hours. On October 9th, 2003, Ion Predică, his wife, Maria Predică, and one of his sons, Marcel Predică, went to the Forensic Institute to identify the body of Marian Predică. The family claimed that Marian was completely disfigured, the left part of his face being crushed, that he had a depression in the nasal bone, which they suspected came from a blow with a hard object, and that there were handcuffs marks around his wrists, the left hand being broken at the joint. Marian’s head was shaved bare. Due to these physiognomy changes, the family was unable to identify the body. Only later, when they recalled his particular mark on a fingernail of the left hand, were they able to confirm the identity of their son’s corpse.
The family stated that Marian Predică was in good health and gave to signs that he suffered any affliction prior to his death.
The forensic death certificate of October 8th, 2003, issued by the Forensic Institute for the family of the deceased, specifies the direct cause of death as “meningocerebral and intraventricular hemorrhage”, and the initial morbid state as “post-aggression skull and facial trauma”.
Under such circumstances, Ion Predică filed a complaint with the Military Prosecutor’s Office in Bucureşti, asking that an investigation be launched to find out the cause of Marian Predică’s death and the culprits. The investigation file at the Military Prosecutor’s Office in Bucureşti was registered under no. 404/2003.
2. Discussions with the staff at Bucureşti-Rahova Maximum Security Penitentiary, at the University Hospital and at the „Mina Minovici” Forensic Institute
At Bucureşti-Rahova Penitentiary, the representatives of APADOR-CH talked to the prison governor, to the chief doctor, to Marian Predică’s cell mates and to V.L., Marian’s co-defendant, who had accompanied him in court on September 25th, 2003.
From the discussions with the penitentiary management and the chief doctor, as well as from the prison medical record, it resulted that on the morning of October 1st, 2003, Marian Predică was brought to the infirmary in a severe state, and provisionally diagnosed with “comitial crisis”. Around 10.30 a.m., Marian Predică was admitted at the Rahova Penitentiary Hospital, where documents were prepared for his transfer to the Floreasca Emergency Hospital, for a specialist examination. Since during transportation the patient became comatose, he was redirected towards the closest unit, which was the Bucureşti University Hospital, where he was admitted around 11.15 a.m. The penitentiary doctor was unable to explain the rapid deterioration of Marian’s health otherwise than by a cerebral aneurism. The doctor also confirmed that Marian had never been ill and had never shown any signs that he had suffered any ailment before October 1st, 2003. As concerned the fact that Marian’s head was shaved, both the doctor and the governor declared that it did not happen at the penitentiary, where “head shaving” was no longer used as a form of punishment, but rather, at the University Hospital, in order to perform the computed tomography.
The governor informed the representatives of APADOR-CH that he did not order any internal investigation to find out the circumstances of Marian’s death, since, from the standpoint of the penitentiary, there are no suspicions in the case. In a notification sent to APADOR-CH on October 16th, 2003, the Rahova Penitentiary governor had already informed that the circumstances of the death were investigated by the Prosecutor’s Office by the Bucureşti Military Tribunal, attaching the press release issued by the DGP, stating that “according to the first investigations run by the Rahova Penitentiary, there are no suspicions regarding detainee Predică Marian’s death”. The press released also mentioned that the Penitentiary “had informed the Prosecutor’s Office, requiring the clearing of causes and circumstances of the death”. During the discussions of November 3rd, the governor informed the representatives of APADOR-CH that the military prosecutor was at that very moment in the penitentiary, interviewing Marian Predică’s cell mates.
After the departure of the military prosecutor, the representatives of APADOR-CH visited the room where Marian Predică had been detained and talked to his mates. Although Marian Predică was only 20, he shared the room with adult detainees. The “cell spokesman” recalled that in the morning of October 1st, 2003, Marian Predică became ill and fainted beside his own bed. He did not hit any hard object during the fall. The guards were immediately called and they took Marian out the room, probably in order to take him to the infirmary. The cell mates said that over the two weeks preceding the event, Marian had complained of headaches and that they had given him painkillers. Also, they stated that Marian had never had any conflict or fight with them, because he was a quiet, aloof type of person who hardly communicated with the others. The representatives of APADOR-CH were able to notice that the detainees in Marian Predică’s cell were afraid they could be accused of his death. That is why they maintained that the death had probably been caused by an older head injury, produced sometimes during Marian’s stay in Jilava Penitentiary, after allegedly fighting with his mates over there.
Talking to V.L., the representatives of APADOR-CH found out that on September 25th, he had been with Marian Predică in court, and that the latter had not complained to him of any ailment, although the two were long time neighbours and friends. V.L. stated that Marian had never been part in any fight for all the time he had been his cell mate at Jilava, and excluded the possibility that he had any conflict with colleagues at Rahova either. This was both because Marian was a very quiet person, but also because his co-defendants were well-known among the inmates and any possible aggressor would have been in trouble. At the same time, V.L. said he heard rumours that Marian had been beaten by penitentiary staff. Since V.L. had close-shaven hair, the representatives of APADOR-CH asked him whether he had chosen so, himself. V.L. said that he was forcefully shaved on September 25th, 2003, after being beaten at the prison reception desk, upon returning from the court. APADOR-CH reminds that another detainee in Rahova Penitentiary, Dan Bejinaru, also maintained that he had been beaten at the reception desk, on September 25th, 2003 (see the Report by APADOR-CH on the Bejinaru Case).
At the Bucureşti University Hospital in Bucureşti, the representatives of APADOR-CH talked to staff from the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) who maintained that a computed tomography did not imply the shaving of the patient’s head. At the same time, the management of the hospital handed APADOR-CH a copy of Marian Predică’s medical report, which showed that, upon admittance in the Intensive Care Unit, on October 1st, 14.17 (the patient had been transferred from ER), the diagnosis was “left frontal intracerebral hemorrhage with massive ventricular flooding; frontal transtentorial herniation syndrome; profound coma, Grade 3, with severe brain-stem lesion”. The report shows that the epicrisis evolved into heart arrest on October 5th, 2003, 13.30, and that “changes recorded during treatment are explained by the severe diencephalic damage, which preceded brain death in a patient with massive cerebral hemorrhage and severe, irreversible neurological deterioration signalled ever since admittance in the ICU ”.
At the “Mina Minovici” Forensic Institute, the representatives of APADOR-CH held talks with the management and staff. The discussions revealed that in the case of skull and face trauma caused by aggression (the initial morbid state specified in the death certificate), immediate medical care could have prevented the negative evolution of the patient’s health and, therefore, his death. It also resulted that brain haemorrhage occurs, in head and face traumas as Marian Predică’s, after 3 to 5 days. At the same time, the discussions revealed that Forensic Institute staff had been subjected to pressures after specifying the initial morbid state as “post-aggression skull and face trauma” in the medical death certificate.
3. Conclusions
The association reminds that, according to Art. 2 of the European Human Rights Convention and to European Court jurisprudence, the Romanian authorities were under obligation to protect Marian Predică’s right to life and, at the same time, must launch a thorough, efficient and truthful investigation in order to find out the circumstances of his death. The investigation must be able to identify the culprits and establish liabilities.
The inquiries made by APADOR-CH show that the circumstances leading to the massive brain hemorrhage which caused Marian Predică’s death are suspicious. In the opinion of its representatives, the probability that Marian Predică suffered a head and face injury between September 25th and October 1st is very high. There is no indication that cell mates inflicted any kind of violence upon Marian Predică. The fact that his head was shaven on the day of his death suggests that he was punished by penitentiary staff and could have been beaten on the same occasion. Also, no matter the circumstances of the injury, the prison management was under obligation to ensure immediate specialist medical care, in order to avoid any possible complications.
As a consequence, APADOR-CH asks the investigation body (respectively the Military Prosecutor’s Office in Bucureşti) to examine the circumstances of Marian Predică’s death in conformity with EHRC standards.
Diana-Olivia Călinescu Valerian Stan
