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<b><u>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<br>
</u> <br>
FORMER CHICAGO POLICE COMMANDER JON BURGE ARRESTED ON CHARGES RELATING TO
TORTURE <br>
OF OVER 100 AFRICAN AMERICANS<br>
<br>
<i>Federal Government heeds call of U.N. Committee Against Torture to
investigate and prosecute Chicago Police Torture cases<br>
</i> <br>
Tuesday, October 21, 2008 (CHICAGO)</b> -- Victims, attorneys and
activists who have been calling for justice in the now infamous Chicago
Police Torture cases for decades claimed victory today when former
Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge was finally indicted by the U.S.
Attorney General's Office and arrested on charges relating to the torture
of over 100 African American men over a 20 year period.<br>
<br>
Until today, despite mountains of evidence, countless internal and
external investigations, and repeated judicial findings that Burge and
officers under his command "systematically" and
"methodically" tortured African Americans at Chicago police
headquarters, not a single officer or official involved has been
prosecuted for their crimes and violations of their victims'
Constitutional and human rights. The torture, committed to elicit
false confessions, included electric shocks to genitals, anal rape with a
cattle prod, suffocation with plastic bags, and physical beatings, along
with sleep deprivation and denial of food, water and bathroom facilities.
The victims were not only subjected to grueling physical pain<b> </b>but
were also tormented with racist epithets and slurs throughout their
interrogations: they were called "nigger," threatened with the
electric shock box described by the detectives as the "nigger
box," and threatened with hanging Alike they had other
niggers," an obvious reference to lynching. Often the officers
involved would taunt the victims by stating "who are people going to
believe, a 'nigger' like you or a cop like me."<br>
<br>
Frustrated by the lack of prosecutions and absence of systemic remedies
for the victims of Burge's torture, activists and attorneys took the
cases to the world stage. In May of 2006, following hearings
concerning the U.S. government's compliance with the Convention Against
Torture, the U.N. Committee that monitors the Convention called on the
U.S. government to "promptly, thoroughly and impartially investigate
all allegations" of abuse by law enforcement officials and
specifically noted "the limited investigation and lack of
prosecution in respect of the allegations of torture perpetrated in areas
2 and 3 of the Chicago Police Department" as evidence of the U.S.
government's failure to uphold the human rights guaranteed by the
Convention. Also in 2006, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture
questioned the U.S. government's handling of the cases and the continued
imprisonment of 24 victims based on confessions elicited through
torture. <br>
<br>
"<i>We are heartened that the federal government has heeded the call
of the U.N. to step in and prosecute where local and state officials have
failed to do so</i>," said Joey Mogul, an attorney at the People's
Law Office who presented the Burge cases to the U.N. Committee Against
Torture. “<i>We are gratified that Jon Burge will finally be brought to
justice for his heinous violations of human rights. However,
justice will not be entirely done until the officers under Burge's
command who participated in the torture and its cover-up are prosecuted
and convicted, new hearings are called the for guys still behind bars
based on confessions elicited through torture in violation of Article 15
of the UN Convention Against Torture, and financial reparations are paid
to Burge's victims as required by Article 14 of the
Convention</i>."<br><br>
<b>For more information: Joey Mogul, People's Law Office, (773)
294-7606</b>; Andrea Ritchie, (646) 831-1243<br><br>
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