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EVN
Video shows a police officer apparently giving a Nazi salute while Joseph Chovanec was being held in his cell
The wife of a Slovak man who died in Belgian police custody has called for a fresh investigation after shocking new images of his detention surfaced.
Joseph Chovanec was arrested at Charleroi airport in 2018 after causing a disturbance on his flight.
As he held on, he started banging his head on the wall of his cell until it blossomed. A group of officers is later seen pinning him.
Chovanec was taken to the hospital but fell into a coma and died the next day.
The images of the cell show several officers laughing during the incident while another made a Nazi salute. Another was filmed sitting for 18 minutes on Chovanec’s rib cage.
His death has drawn parallels with the case of George Floyd, who died in May after a police officer nodded at his neck during his arrest in the US.
“I want to know what happened and why [the police] behave like that “, said his wife, Henrieta, to Het Laatse Nieuws, the local newspaper that received the recordings.
Before his death, Chovanec owned a company that recruited Slovak construction workers for projects in Belgium, and he often commuted between the two countries for his business.
His family said they did not know the reason for his wrongful conduct during the custody of police, and from an autopsy it appeared that he had not been under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
“There seems to be something going on with my husband. He did not feel well, but the police ignored my husband all night,” Ms. Chovancova said. “When they saw the blood, they should have given him first aid. Instead, they sat with so many people on him. He could not breathe well.”
Two years after his death, a police investigation is still underway, and Ms. Chovancova has appointed a new judge.
A spokesman for the Charleroi Public Ministry Office said all officials involved in the incident were interviewed, but added that “due to the Covid-19 crisis, there has been a delay”.
Meanwhile, a police spokesman told local outlet Sudpresse that the officer pictured giving a Nazi salute would be fired from August 20.
