Criminal proceedings dropped after death at Freiburg police station
Published: Thursday, Sep 5th 2024, 10:40
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Following the death of a Thai woman in the interrogation rooms of the Freiburg criminal investigation department, the public prosecutor's office has dropped the criminal proceedings. The tragedy was a chain of unfortunate circumstances that could not be attributed to any particular person.
The woman had been arrested the previous day together with her boyfriend on suspicion of human trafficking and promoting prostitution. In the morning, she was taken to the interrogation room, where she was to be questioned around five hours later.
Contrary to regulations, the woman was wearing her shoes on her feet. She "half hanged herself" with a shoelace, the public prosecutor's office wrote in a statement on Thursday. The room was not under video surveillance.
During the investigation, it was not possible to determine who was responsible for the negligence that the woman was still wearing shoes with laces. The public prosecutor's office concludes that there is no evidence, which is why a prosecution would make little sense.
According to the public prosecutor's office, how often visual checks are carried out on people placed in interrogation rooms depends on their psychological state. There were no signs of suicidal behavior in the case of the Thai woman.
The couple had to be arrested quickly on that day in September 2022 because they were planning to flee abroad. On the day of the interrogation, there were many prisoner transports and numerous interrogations, namely also of victims in this case. As these people only spoke Thai, an interpreter had to be found first.
This ultimately led to waiting times and also to the reduced availability of inspectors for visual inspections. The discontinuation of the criminal proceedings can still be appealed to the cantonal court.
©Keystone/SDA
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