Raportul asupra situa]iei lui Vili Rupa

1. On the occasion of the visit to the Bircea Mare penitentiary, county of Hunedoara (April 5, 2001), the representatives of APADOR-CH discussed with detainee Vili Rupa (born on June 30, 1973), whose case has been monitored by the association ever since 1999. He complained about abuses committed by police officers from Hunedoara and Deva, both during his custody and in the period when he was detained in the lock up of the Hunedoara County Police Inspectorate in Deva, in 1998. He was sued for traffic of illegal substances (0.5 kilo of mercury), and got a final conviction in 1999 for one and a half years in prison. Since he had carried out almost the entire sentence, he was left free. During the detention, he complained about the abuses committed by police officers in 1998 to the Military Prosecutor’s Office, who made a no indictment decision. In the spring of the year 2000, Vili Rupa submitted a complaint to the European Human Rights Court regarding the abuses of police officers and the solutions of the Military Prosecutor’s Office.

Following the submission of the complaint to Strasbourg, Vili Rupa, resident of the city of Hunedoara, was threatened by the local police officers – in the presence of a witness – that they would "shot" him. The European Court of Strasbourg was notified on this incident. According to Vili Rupa’s statements, in November 2000, he was with a friend to a bar in Hunedoara. (It should be mentioned that since he has psychiatric problems, he never drinks alcohol). They got out from the bar together around 2:00 a.m. and they to Lipscani street, a street closed to car access. However, two private cars went straight to them at full speed, touching Vili Rupa’s friend. The cars braked and four uniformed police officers (in fact two police officers – Adrian Enache and Daniel Chis – and two gendarmes – Marius Ionel Vita and Razvan Marius Soanca) got off and went in a menacing manner and asked for their IDs. A verbal dispute followed, during which Adrian Enache took out his pistol, armed it and pointed it to Vili Rupa. The other police officers threatened Rupa that he would fine him for one and a half million lei. Exasperated by what it clearly seemed a provocation and scared by the pistol threat, Vili Rupa lost his temper and slapped Adrian Enache, then he broke two windows of the VW Golf owned by sergeant major Daniel Chis. (Surprisingly, the latter withdrew his complaint on the car damage.) On November 28, 2000, Vili Rupa went to the Prosecutor’s Office in Deva, after being subpoenaed by prosecutor Jovita Baceanu. Once there, he was told, in the presence of an ex officio lawyer, that he would not have any problem, according to the examination performed during his previous arrest, according to which he had "diminished discernment". Rupa to see that exam report and the prosecutor said he would go "make him a photocopy". However, he came back with no photocopy, yet with a group of "masked persons" who beat Rupa in front of the ex officio lawyer. The prosecutor issued an arrest warrant and on November 30, 2000, Vili Rupa was taken to the Bircea Mare penitentiary (10 kilometres from Deva).

Vili Rupa filed a complaint to the Military Prosecutor’s Office against police officers Enache and Chis. As expected, the Military Prosecutor’s Office from Craiova made the non-indictment decision (letter no 644/P/2000).

Vili Rupa has a list of five witnesses who saw him when he was brought in the penitentiary and can confirm that he had been beaten (Sorin Ursache, Florin Bostinaru, Gabriel Sorin Popa, Nicusor Sirghei and Constantin Dulgheriu). The representatives of APADOR-CH only managed to talk to one of them – Gabriel Sorin Popa, room 5, section I – who confirmed that he saw Vili Rupa when he was brought in the penitentiary and that he had visible marks on his head (bruises, swollen and bloody nose, head bumps).

He was sued for outrage. On February 15, 2001, The Court of Hunedoara convicted him to six months in prison (criminal sentence no 73/15.02.01, in file no 5856/2000): 3 months for outrage (art. 239 paragraphs 1 and 3) and 6 months for the same crime (art. 239 paragraphs 2 and 3). By merger, Vili Rupa had a 6 months sentence, out of which he had carried out already almost 4 months. The sentence also included art. 429 of the Criminal Procedure Code (the obligation of medical treatment until the full recovery) since the forensic examination in the file includes the following: "severe personality damage of the excitable-impulsive and anti-social type with serious behavioural problems".

Vili Rupa filed for appeal, considering that he is not guilty since he was provoked.

Police officer Adrian Enache submitted to the court a forensic certificate saying that following the hit ("slap" says Rupa, "punch" says the police officer), a post-traumatic "acute otitis" would have been diagnosed, with the recommendation of 17 days of medical care!

Vili Rupa’s penitentiary file has the mention "aggressive" from the previous conviction, to which "special attention in supervising him when taken out from the detention facility" was added. The minutes drawn out in the Bircea Mare penitentiary on December 20, 2000, mentions that Vili Rupa "is aggressive, violent, swore the officers ... he hit a police non-commissioned officer". Conclusions: "hand immobilisation means" (if taken out from section I – including when going to the doctor, for visits, going to court etc. – note by APADOR-CH), he will be supervised carefully ... he does not participate to activities ... his documents will bear a blue bar" (dangerous detainees – note by APADOR-CH).

As opposed to these minutes, two officers from the penitentiary declared that Vili Rupa has never made them any problem in the penitentiary.

APADOR-CH considers that in the November 2000 incident, Vili Rupa was the victim of a provocation from the police officers and gendarmes;

In the opinion of the association, the mentions "dangerous" or "aggressive" on the files of many detainees – Vili Rupa included – is mainly due to the "guidelines" from the police. APADOR-CH considers that the penitentiary system – subordinated to the Justice Ministry – should not take into account the "guidelines" of the police, often subjective, and rather determine the degree of dangerousness of a detainee exclusively based on his behaviour in prison;

APADOR-CH believes that the November 2000 incident, following which Vili Rupa is back in the penitentiary, is due to the complaint filed by him to the European Human Rights Court of Strasbourg and the strange way in which the police officers from Hunedoara believe they should react.