German Cops Murder African

Jallow was then taken to one police station in Dessau, “searched� and hogtied on a fire-proof mattress in a cell. In the middle of the night, a blaze flared up in his cell and burned him down. Although the young man cried for help, the two policemen in attendance didn’t budge an inch to snatch him off the throes of the heat.

INTERNATIONAL

Germany made some recent international headlines when it was exposed that military trainers had instructed recruits to imagine that they were being attacked by Blacks in the Bronx, USA, and how the would fight back.

Yet, there is case which hits to the core of racism that has received much less publicity—it involves the cruel death of an African immigrant in the hands of German law enforcement. 

Two police officers are currently standing trial in Dessau, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, for being involved in the dreadful death of a young asylum-seeker from Sierra Leone.

The indicted officers, who were in attendance that night of January 7th, 2005, failed to rescue Oury Jallow from the arson that was cruelly dispatching him to the great Beyond. The police initially alleged “suicide� in order to cover-up the crime and murder committed by their colleagues.

But for the determination of the friends of the late Jallow, especially his friend from Guinea, this case would have been covered up, dismissed and the plaintiffs once for all even non-suited.

Oury Jallow, a 21-year-old Sierra Leonean, left his war-torn country to find sanctuary in Germany, where he could bring to fruition his dream of a peaceful and thriving life. It hadn’t crossed his mind that some German law enforcement agents would treat him with such cruelty. That’s exactly what happened in the night of January 7th, 2005, when he was arrested and taken into police custody, allegedly for being “inebriate and harassing women.�

Jallow was then taken to one police station in Dessau, “searched� and hogtied on a fire-proof mattress in a cell. In the middle of the night, a blaze flared up in his cell and burned him down. Although the young man cried for help, the two policemen in attendance didn’t budge an inch to snatch him off the throes of the heat.

Instead, they cynically and gleefully let him go up in flames. Whereafter, they cooked up and bandied about a story that the young African “committed suicide.� The police of Dessau did their utmost to gull the public community in an attempt to cover up the murder.

However, Jallow’s friend, another African from Guinea, wouldn’t let that manipulated side of the story prevail. He organized a whip-round among their kith and well-wishers so as to hire attorneys-at-law to profess the rights of the departed.

The Guinean friend personally traveled to Sierra Leone to deliver the grim tidings to the parents of Jallow. Many months ago, this community staged a soccer game to remember the death of Oury.

The police claimed Oury deliberately put an end to his life—this was flatly disgusting, flimsy and ridiculous inasmuch as constables are supposed to remove from any arrested person every article that he or she might use to harm themselves.

Yet, the policemen have maintained hitherto that they thoroughly searched Jallow. How could someone whose hands and  legs were immobilized kill himself?

Another less cogent explanation whipped out by some people is that the two police officers didn’t notice a cigarette lighter in Jallow’s pocket that he might have used to set fire to the cell.

Moreover, sensible humans will agree that somebody whose four limbs have been bound up can’t use them. What is more, the mattress on which Jallow was lying in the cell was fireproof.

One is compelled to believe that Jallow might have been voluntarily killed by the two constables. If not, why did they lie in the first place? The police almost had their side of the story through. Unfortunately for them, the prosecutor, the friends of Jallow, their attorneys, and many citizens in Germany wouldn’t let them of the hook.

150 friends of Jallow and denizens of Dessau as well as 500 individuals from Berlin took to the streets to commemorate the unjust death, and to cry out against the streak of some German law enforcement agents to distort the facts and the truth. They demanded the disclosure of the results of the investigation and the post-mortem examination, compensation to the Jallow’s family and apology from the police and from Dessau’s  officials. “Don’t conceal anything – we won’t forget anything,� some posters declared.

People are aware of the delaying tactics and the bias of some police and justice officers against people of immigrant origin. Although Jallow died two years ago, until recently the justice department of Dessau had been deploying gimmicks in order to non-suit the plaintiffs and the public prosecution.

This spine-chilling attitude is consistent with the Nazi ideology that still pervades some portions of German society.

This ideology, rooted in pathological envy was propounded by the Austrian Adolph Hitler – who later on became German – and enthusiastically spread by Goebbels, his Propaganda minister. The Nazi ideology stands for bestial and structural violence against Jews and immigrants who are often smart, resourceful and successful.

Wolfgang Koeppen, a German writer discusses in his novels how the restoration of Nazism unfolded after World War II. This is the reason why xenophobia still lingers on in some quarters in Germany. The death of Oury Jallow is ascribable to this large-scale deception.


Mathias writes for The Black Star News from Frankfurt, Germany  

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