Estonian police admit mistake in using rubber bullets at Harku detention facility

Photo: JAANUS LENSMENT/POSTIMEES

Commenting on an article published in the Wednesday edition of Eesti Ekspress, a senior representative of the police has admitted that in the opinion of experts the use of rubber bullets in the Harku detention center for illegal immigrants in last November ran counter to the Law Enforcement Act.

«In the course of an ex-post examination of the events the use of a firearm loaded with rubber bullets was analyzed the most. After making an ex-post evaluation of the circumstances of the event and the tactics chosen by the police, experts took the stance that the use of a firearm, although loaded with rubber bullets, was not consistent with the Law Enforcement Act,» Valdo Poder, head of the law enforcemen office and crisis management team at the North prefecture of the Police and Border Guard Board, said in a press release.

«Ex-post examination of the circumstances allows us to presume that the man who exited a room despite an order was not necessarily aggressive. At the same time, the police officer had to decide within a fraction of a second whether the situation that had lasted for more than two hours could escalate without interference, and he chose a more forceful way to solve the situation. It is also clear when examining the course of the events afterwards that better movement of information and clearer management would have helped to make that decision,» Poder said.

According to Eesti Ekspress, the police internal control service established based on CCTV footage that the person eventually hit by the rubber bullet stood calmly in one place during the episode that lasted a couple of seconds and there was no waving of hands or shouting.

The weekly said the events got their start when police personnel at the detention center approached a Congolese man with a paper with a judge's decision extending his detention by two months to get the man's signature. The man refused to put his signature on the paper on the grounds that he did not understand the text written in Estonian. The conflict then allegedly turned violent as other detainees stepped in, refusing to vacate the dining and recreation area and go to their rooms.

«The events got their start from the separation of one aggressive detainee from the others, which led to the frustration of other detainees and their refusal to obey the orders of officials. There were altogether more than 30 people on the second level of the center, 13 of whom stood in the corridor and refused to leave despite repeated orders to do it. Following negotiations that lasted more than two hours, not all detainees would go into their rooms and rapid response personnel entered the [building's second] level,» the police officer said.

«It can be seen on the video recording that when the police entered the level one man was standing in the corridor and another detainee was exiting a room. Immediately afterwards the police officer fired a warning shot towards the floor and the rubber bullet hit the leg of a detainee after ricochet. The movement of the last detainees into their rooms, however, did not mean that the situation had been conclusively resolved for the police. For that all the rooms and all the individuals had to be additionally checked by taking them first to the dining hall and then back to their room one by one,» Poder said.

Eesti Ekspress said that when suppressing the unrest at the Harku facility near Tallinn in last November the police made several errors in management, fired rubber bullets at a peaceful person and later lied about the events.