Here at the RESIST CARDIAC ARREST Campaign we support the old
adage that the pen is mightier than the sword, or perhaps these days we should
say: “The pen-drive is mightier than the
sawn-off” – anyway, dialogue is, or should be, at the heart of Democracy, and a
lot of what people romantically call ‘activism’ boils down to simply putting in
a lot of hours at the clacking keyboard as an anonymous scribe, churning out a
river of surging words. . . Let’s saunter over to the filing cabinet and take a
look at a typical case in point…. Take
this case for example…. The Case of the
Great British UNCAT Hoax… and how a
meddling amateur hack stumbled into a shadowy world of political deception,
torture and subterfuge, centred around an Amerikan company selling a
particularly ghastly form of weaponry to avid arms-dealers around the World….. Well, enough of my musings, let’s pour a strong
coffee, light up a camel and see what’s in that file, shall we…..?
To: The Rt.Hon Jeremy Corbyn, M.P.
Dear Mr Corbyn,
RE: UNCAT / ARTICLE 22 / UK
On 23rd
November 2012 I sent you a registered letter concerning the above, and how it
relates to the phenomenon of taser-torture in our country. Being a little concerned at not yet having
received any reply, I include the body of my letter in this e-mail.
With best
wishes, Jeremy Schanche, RESIST CARDIAC ARREST
“Open
Letter To: The Right Honourable Jeremy Corbyn, MP, House of Commons,
Westminster LONDON SW1A 0AA.
Dear
Mr Corbyn, 23rd
November, 2012
Re: UNCAT / ARTICLE 22
/ UK
Five
years ago today, the UN declared the use of the taser stun-gun to constitute a
form of torture and thus a violation of the United Nations Convention Against
Torture.
It is my belief that the UNCAT is in need of
ratification by the U.K., as I hope to make clear to you. I know that it is normal procedure to
petition ones local MP but following
a lengthy correspondence with my MP, Andrew George, it is obvious that he is
not minded to get involved in this particular controversy. Having seen your name on the ‘Defend the
Right to Protest’ petition, I take it that you have a genuine interest in
Justice.
Due
to the gravity of this matter, as it is indeed a matter of life and death, I
hoped I could make my case to you, and present certain facts that I believe
have a bearing on the British Justice system.
If you do not feel you can take up this case, I would be very grateful
for any advice about anyone who might be
interested to discuss it further.
I
have founded a campaign called RESIST CARDIAC ARREST, which is opposed to the
use of tasers and stun-guns. The
death-toll in USA and Canada from taser-type weapons currently stands at
758. In Britain, 3 deaths have been
attributed to taser-use. The ‘Stun-Gun’
evolved from a simple electric cattle-prod, used in the slaughter-houses of
Argentina, before first being used to torture humans (political prisoners) in
Latin America in the ‘30’s.
When
studying the taser phenomenon, I discovered that a recent death in
police-custody in Portugal had led to a UN investigation. Following this, the UN Committee Against Torture
released statements on 23rd November 2007 concluding that the effect
of tasers “on the
physical and mental state of targeted persons would appear to violate Articles 1 and 16 of the Convention
[on Torture]”. Tasers were further
described by the U.N. committee as “a
form of torture”; that “can
even provoke death”.
The
Committee Against Torture recommended to the Portuguese government that their
police force cease the use of the taser x-26, but the Committee lacks the power
to enforce its decisions upon national governments and the taser remains in use
in Portugal. As I understand it, a
similar legal contradiction hangs over the status of the taser in this country
and many others. Essentially, the UN
regard it as a lethal torture device, but even though Britain signed the U.N.
Convention Against Torture in 1985, nobody in the British government seems to
have ever dealt with this glaring failure of policy to uphold and embody the
intentions of the UNCAT.
As
part of my campaigning work against the use of these lethal and agonizing
devices, I have attempted to initiate dialogue with various authorities
concerned. I have contacted my local
Chief Constable, Police Authority, The Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister
and the Attorney General, asking them if they could explain to me how a device
designated by the U.N. as an instrument of torture can be legally used in a
nation that is signatory to the UNCAT.
Sadly, I have not had a straight answer from any of them, as apparently
none of them can give me such an answer.
Of all the aforementioned authorities, I believe the function of the
Attorney General is to deal with legal matters concerning government
policy.
Ostensibly
the purpose of a stun gun is to temporarily disable someone until they can be
arrested. Amnesty International has
documented many cases of suspects already in handcuffs, sometimes in cells
being ‘tasered’. This is blatant
torture, however most of the documented cases occurred in the USA. The taser is routinely used specifically for
torture in many oppressive regimes. A
local taser incident aroused my interest recently. At a royal wedding street party in Falmouth
on 29th April 2011, a young
man named Stefan Naumczyk threw a bottle to the ground where it shattered, reportedly
in the direction of some policemen. What
happened next was filmed and published in the media – Stefan Naumczyk was surrounded by at least five policemen,
tasered, knelt on by a large policeman and
handcuffed. Having subdued and
incapacitated the suspect, one of the policemen then gave him a further 50,000
volt blast of his taser x-26 – the very model indicted by the Committee Against
Torture, when it made its statement in Lisbon on 23rd November
2007.
Having
seen the film of this event, it struck me as a very blatant case of taser-abuse
constituting an act of torture, as the second taser blast, on a handcuffed man,
served no purpose other than summary and cruel punishment. I decided to pursue this matter further and
having had a fruitless correspondence with the government and police, I wrote
to the U.N.’s High Commissioner For Human Rights, in Geneva, asking them to investigate the
case of Stefan Naumczyk, as I believed he had suffered torture in the U.K. and
I wanted to know how to make moves towards seeing the UNCAT properly upheld
here in Britain.
I
got a reply from the UNHCHR informing me that they could not get involved in
the case – I quote the letter:
“The Committee against Torture cannot examine
petitions alleging violations of the Convention against Torture (CAT) unless
the State has made the declaration under article 22 recognizing the Committee’s
competence to receive and consider petitions.
The United Kingdom has not
made the declaration.”
So
it would seem from the above that although Britain’s Thatcher government signed
the United Nations Convention Against Torture in 1985, they failed to sign the
declaration attached to Article 22 of the Convention, thereby rendering the
Convention a mere verbal one, impossible to be actually applied within our
nation!
Interestingly, just before the last election, when I
received letters from Nick Clegg, Andrew George, and other politicians of various hues affirming
that they would uphold the UNCAT, none of them pointed out to me that it cannot be applied in Great Britain. Had I not contacted the U.N. directly, I
would never have discovered this fact which, in my opinion, makes a rather
cynical mockery of the idea of the rule of law.
I don’t think many people are aware that
the U.N. views taser usage as torture, and I think even fewer people know that
the anti-torture legislation is inapplicable in Britain, despite signing the
UNCAT back in 1985. Current Home Office
policy is to increase the arming of police with taser stun guns, I believe the
plan is that eventually almost all police will routinely carry them. I think that a proper and thorough
application of the extant anti-torture legislation would lead to a total ban on
these torture-devices. Surely an
instrument of torture cannot be condoned and passively accepted in a society
such as ours, that ostensibly condemns torture.
Therefore I think this argument needs to be pursued and brought to the
attention of those with the power to change policy and uphold justice.
I am also convinced that the State of
Great Britain owes it to the People of Great Britain to sign Article 22 of the
UNCAT and thus prove that the government is in fact sincere in its stated wish
to eradicate torture from this nation. Incidentally,
I have received written statements from the Green Party and Mebyon Kernow, the
Cornish party, saying that they agree with me that the taser x-26 and similar
weapons constitute a violation of the UNCAT.
If there is any way you can help forward
this matter I would be extremely grateful.
Also, if there is any other person, department or organization who you
think would cooperate or make a contribution to this effort, I would be very
happy for you to copy this letter to them.
If I can provide you with any further information I will be very happy
to do so.
A taser-free world would be an infinitely
better world and any progress in any individual nation towards the elimination
of torture helps show other nations a way forward. Death and torture by electricity is an
increasing global scourge of our times
and needs to be abolished and consigned to history, like other barbarous
manifestations of human cruelty.
With best wishes,
Yours sincerely, Jeremy Schanche, RESIST CARDIAC
ARREST.”
Since writing to
you on November 23rd, the American taser death toll has risen
from 758
to 766.
