Press release
of August 28th, 1998
August 30th 1983: seeking refuge, finding the death
PRO ASYL reminds of the death of Cemal Altun 15 years ago
Stop brutalisation of the practice of deportation legitimised under the rule of law!
Seeking refuge, finding the death (en)
Vom Unrecht eines Rechtsstaats – Heiko Kaufmann
Fotoserie
Translation-Info
This is a machine translation by the IBM-supported PERSONAL TRANSLATOR plus. It is slightly edited by combining its results with the translation of SYSTRAN. But you should not rely on it. If you want to use a translated text append or reference the original text.
On the occasion of the 15th’s anniversary of the death of Cemal Altun on August 30th, 1998 the National Human Rights Agency for Refugees PRO ASYL calls for a radical change of the deportation policy and a return to standards according to human rights regarding the reception and treatment of refugees.
„Cemal Altun has been the first refugee in the era of Federal Chancellor Kohl seeking refuge in Germany and finding the death“, said PRO ASYL- speaker Heiko Kauffmann. Cemal Altun had jumped out of the sixth floor of the Berlin Administrative Court into death on August 30th 15 years ago. He hasn’t had no more hope to find his rights in Germany and had to fear to be expelled by the German authorities into Turkey as the country of persecution.
The act of desperation of Altun and the suicide of a refugee – described by politicians of the government Kohl as „regrettable individual case“ – happened after the repeal „of the right of political asylum on July 1st, 1993“ in more than 30 cases. „These refugees who are in German detention pending deportation and fear their expelling choose suicide preferring it to be forcibly returned into their home country or to be extradited to their catchpoles. They must have had sound and important reasons to seek refuge and protection in Germany „. This declared Kauffmann. The present conditions of detention pending deportation and the execution of deportations would demonstrate the inhuman consequences of the new right of political asylum in most glaring way. Detention pending deportation is imposed today in Germany too fast, too frequently and for too long time. It is no more a exceptional mean to guarantee the departure of an individual but has become the rule for refugees long since.
„The confidence in democratic institutions and in the parties is disappearing rapidly, as it is tried to dogde human rights and refugee protection by deterrence policy, authoritarian bureaucratic practice of the authorities and ever more sophisticated legal regulations and to block humanitarian and democratic standards and such ones binding by international law“, Kauffmann continued. „The death of Cemal Altuns 15 years ago is an insistent reminder to stop immediately the brutalisation of the present deportation practice legitimised under the rule of law“.
CHRONOLOGIE
