'Racist' French police slammed
2006-05-23 21:40
Paris - The human rights group, Amnesty International, accused French police on Tuesday of acts of brutality and murder against ethnic minorities.
"Ill treatment and racist murders attributable to the (French) police in the past 10 years are not isolated cases," according to the organisation's 2006 world report.
"The suspected perpetrators of these acts are not always made to account for them in court," said Genevieve Sevrin, president of Amnesty France.
"The racism of police officers and other state officials is aimed at persons of the Muslim faith or of ethnic minorities," said Amnesty.
The organisation also criticised a 2005 terrorism law which it said "authorises longer periods of secret detention and thus eliminates guarantees against the use of torture and ill-treatment and reinforces the impunity of the forces of law and order".
Amnesty also attacked the country's decision to place Albania and Georgia on the "safe" list of countries whose nationals did not qualify for asylum.
- SAPA