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Christiana Stilianidou
Verbal and physical abuse by a police officer towards a citizen that was being taken for psychiatric evaluation
18 • 07 • 2021

A hospital worker reported that during her psychiatric clinic duty, a female patient who was being escorted by 2 police officers was verbally and physically assaulted in front of her by one of these police officers.

See more about the incident in 1, 2.

Where is the problem with the rule of law?

In a state governed by the rule of law, the actions of the police authorities must be governed by certain principles such as the principle of legality, the principle of proportionality, the prohibition of the abusive exercise of police power, and the respect and protection of human rights .

Although the police may use force in order to enforce the law, this does not mean that all use of force on their part is legal. On the contrary, the arbitrary use of violence is a dangerous phenomenon for a democracy.

The responsibilities of the police authorities and the behavior they must display in the exercise of their duties are regulated by Presidential Decrees 141/1991 and 254/2004. Furthermore, the transfer of a patient to a public psychiatric clinic for evaluation, must be carried out under conditions that ensure respect for the dignity of the patient, as stipulated in article 96 paragraph 5 of Law 2071/1992.

In this particular case, the alleged conduct of a police officer towards a patient whom he was accompanying to the hospital for psychiatric evaluation, and the unnecessary and excessive verbal and physical violence that appear to have been used, are absolutely reprehensible in a state governed by the rule of law.

Christiana Stilianidou
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