Court Chambers in Charleroi (Hainaut) have ruled that none of the 31 suspects in the case of the death of Jozef Chovanec will be tried before a court. The 38-year-old Slovak businessmen died in the hospital he was taken to after having been on the receiving end of heavy-handed treatment by police officers while he was being held in a cell at Charleroi Airport. Lawyers representing Mr Chovanec’s family can appeal against Chambers' decision not to prosecute if they so wish.
No suspects to be prosecuted in the case of a Slovak business that died after heavy-handed treatment by police at Charleroi Airport
Published:
On 27 February 2018, 38-year-old Jozef Chovanec died in the Marie Curie Hospital in Charleroi. A few days earlier on the night of 23 February Mr Chovanec was on the receiving end of hard-handed restraining tactics at the hands of the police at Charleroi Airport.
CCTV footage of what happened in the police cell were leaked to the press. The footage caused a public outcry. One police officer is shown sitting on top of Mr Chovanec for a quarter of an hour. While this is happening at least 2 other police officers a shown laughing, 1 of them makes a Nazi salute.
Many questions remain
More than 6 years later, many questions still remain. The approach taken with regard to the case by the public prosecutor’s office and the examining magistrate has been rather passive to say the least. An investigation was launched, but the examining magistrate decided against holding a reconstruction. It wasn’t until 2020 that a reconstruction was finally held.
Furthermore, it took a long time for the autopsy report to arrive and all the examining magistrate did was send a simple reminder letter to the pathologist. The case is complex and it remains very difficult to ascertain who or what was responsible for Mr Chovanec's death. Moreover, the reports written by medical experts assigned to the case contradict each other.
Emergency services
Questions have also been raised about the medical assistance given to Mr Chovanec. A doctor that decided that Mr Chovanec was fit to stay in the cell after he was detained, allegedly did so without performing even a superficial examination. He didn’t arrive at the airport only 3 hours after he was summoned there.
The paramedic that administered an injection to Mr Chovanec to calm him down allegedly did so without reflection. Earlier, 2 of Mr Chovanec’s friends had told police that he suffered from a thyroid disorder. 1 minute after the injection was administered Mr Chovanec went into cardiac arrest.