Death in the JVA Kleve

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The death in the Kleve JVA is the death of the 26-year-old Syrian Amed A. as a result of a fire in the Kleve correctional facility on September 17, 2018. He was wrongly imprisoned for more than two months. Twelve days after the fire, on September 29th, Amed A. died in hospital from his injuries. The death and the circumstances surrounding his imprisonment sparked a political debate about the work of the North Rhine-Westphalia police and the penal system.

Confusion and incarceration

In Hamburg, a man from Mali named Amedy G. was wanted by an arrest warrant for theft. According to the police, this is also said to have used the alias name "Amed A." In fact, this alias name was only entered into the police database three days after the arrest of the Syrian Amed A., apparently with the help of deliberate manipulation of the data set.

During a police operation on a quarry pond near Geldern on the Lower Rhine, Amed A. is checked on July 6, 2018 because he is said to have molested women beforehand. Because the Syrian cannot identify himself, he is taken to the police station to check his identity. By comparing the fingerprints, the police can identify him as "Ahmad A.". The police said they had checked the name against the police databases, whereupon they came across the arrest warrant against Amedy G. The police held the Syrian and the man from Mali wanted by an arrest warrant to be the same person, although the photos in the databases were not compared. Amed A. was arrested and was imprisoned in the JVA Kleve until the fire that caused him to die.

Only after the fire, on September 28, 2018, did it become public that the 26-year-old Syrian might have been the victim of a name confusion. According to information from the WDR magazine Westpol , however, the Kleve police knew long in advance that the detainee was not the one wanted by an arrest warrant in Hamburg. Just three weeks after the arrest, the Braunschweig public prosecutor's office noticed the mix-up, which they informed the Kleve police about. In addition, two weeks before the fire in his cell, the Syrian reportedly told a psychologist that he had been mistaken. However, this was not seriously investigated.

death

The arrested Amed A. from Syria was brought to the JVA Kleve and was innocent there for more than two months. A fire broke out in his prison cell in mid-September. Two weeks after the fire, the man died of his injuries.

Investigations

The fire in the cell was attributed to a suicide attempt by Amed A. On the basis of protocols from the JVA Kleve, however, it could be proven that, contrary to initial claims, the intercom in the cell was operated on the evening of the fire. A report from the NRW Interior Ministry shows that A. had pressed the alarm button in his cell and opened the window to his cell.

The public prosecutor's office took an investigation into a. against a doctor of the prison for negligent homicide by omission. The investigators are also investigating whether and when the light signal triggered by the intercom was deactivated. In addition, there is a suspicion that the Syrian's health record contained indications of endangering himself, which, contrary to his duty, were not brought to the attention of the public. Only then was the man classified by the prison as not at risk of suicide.

At the beginning of November 2018, the public prosecutor's office in Kleve announced that, after calling in a fire expert, it assumed that Amed A. had deliberately started the fire with suicidal intent. No fire accelerator was found in the investigations.

The call from Amed A's cell could only be reconstructed with the help of the IT company. After the fire had burned for 15 minutes in the cell, the inmate called a prison employee using the intercom. At the time, he was monitoring another inmate's phone call and pushed the contact away after 9 seconds without taking any further action.

Political reactions

The opposition in the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia sees a need for clarification in the case. The SPD demands a comprehensive, chronological report from the state ministries for the interior and justice on the wrongful imprisonment and the death of the 26-year-old. According to the information from the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia so far, there are numerous contradictions and unanswered questions.

Sven Wolf (SPD) stated that it was hardly understandable that the Syrian should never have complained about the mix-up during his detention. It is also unclear why the young man should have been liable at all, despite several diagnosed psychological disorders. More information about the man's possible suicide risk and the cause of the fire in his cell are necessary.

Should Herbert Reul (Minister of the Interior) and Peter Biesenbach (Minister of Justice), both members of the CDU, not be able to answer the open questions about the case satisfactorily, further investigations will be requested.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ RP: Witnesses contradict the plot variant in the Amad A. case. May 19, 2020, accessed May 24, 2020 .
  2. ↑ a b ARD: Death in the cell: Was the Syrian Amad A. the victim of arbitrary police behavior? | Monitor | WDR. April 5, 2019, accessed April 5, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Arrest of Amad A.: Was it a deliberate mix-up? | tagesschau.de. April 6, 2019, accessed May 24, 2020 .
  4. ↑ WDR: Cell fire in Kleve - police apparently knew of confusion. May 24, 2020, accessed May 24, 2020 .
  5. ^ A b Matthias Korfmann, Stephanie Weltmann and Michael Kohlstadt: JVA Kleve: Why did an innocent Syrian have to die? In: morgenpost.de. October 20, 2018. Retrieved October 28, 2018 .
  6. ↑ Deadly fire in JVA Kleve: Doubts about suicide theory. In: tagesschau.de. October 18, 2018, accessed November 3, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Indication of an emergency call from a burning cell. In: sueddeutsche.de. October 18, 2018, accessed November 3, 2018 .
  8. ↑ a b Tobias Blasius: Death in the JVA Kleve: Justice officer pushed the emergency call away. In: WAZ. November 5, 2018, accessed November 5, 2018 .
  9. ^ Dead Syrians in JVA: Indications of an emergency call from a burning cell. October 18, 2018, accessed October 18, 2018 .
  10. ↑ a b Notes on emergency calls in the event of a fatal cell fire. October 19, 2018. Retrieved October 19, 2018 .