The Belgian government has been urged to investigate the death of a man in police custody after an officer sat on his rib cage for 16 minutes and another apparently made a Nazi salute. Jozef Chovanec, a 38-year old Slovakian citizen, was arrested at Charleroi airport in February 2018 after causing a disturbance while boarding a flight to Bratislava. Taken to a cell, he started banging his head against a wall, causing bleeding. On Wednesday video images emerged showing how he was pinned down in the cell by six police officers. One officer sat on his rib cage for 16 minutes, according to Het Laatse Nieuws, which obtained the footage. The officers laughed “exuberantly” while one danced and made a Nazi salute, according to a doctor’s report. A blanket was over Chovanec’s face for some time. Chovanec died in hospital the following day. His wife, Henrieta Chovancova, has said the killing of George Floyd in the US in May was reminiscent of her husband’s death. “When [the police] saw the blood, they should have given him first aid. Instead they sat on him with so many people. He couldn’t breathe properly,” she said.
via guardian: Belgian police officer made ‘Nazi’ salute in cell of man who died
siehe auch: Footage Shows Police Officer Giving ‘Nazi Salute’ Before Man Died in Custody. Images of Jozef Chovanec being restrained by police before his death also show an officer sitting on his chest for 16 minutes. Images have emerged of a police officer making what appears to be a Nazi salute while multiple other officers restrain a man who later died in police custody. Slovakian Jozef Chovanec was arrested at Belgium’s Charleroi airport in 2018 after causing a disturbance on his flight. Put in a cell, he began to act erratically, banging his head against a wall until he started to bleed. At this point, officers tried to restrain Chovanec, and video from his cell shows one officer sitting on his rib cage for 16 minutes. The footage, obtained by Belgian newspaper Het Laatse Nieuws, also shows a group of officers laughing and one making a Nazi salute, while appearing to hold her fingers to her face to represent a Hitler moustache. Chovanec was hospitalised after the incident, but fell into a coma and died the following day. An autopsy showed he had not been under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and it is unknown why he was acting erratically; Tödliche Polizeigewalt. Mann stirbt nach Festnahme auf Flughafen im belgischen Charleroi. Beteiligte Polizistin zeigte Hitlergruß. Aufschrei erst nach Videoveröffentlichung. Die belgische Tageszeitung Het Laatste Nieuws (HLN) hat am Mittwoch ein brisantes Video zu einem Fall hochgeladen, der eigentlich als vergessen galt: Jozef Chovanec wollte am 24. Februar 2018 vom Flughafen Brüssel-Charleroi aus ins slowakische Bratislava fliegen, wo seine Frau und seine kleine Tochter auf ihn warteten. Doch der 38jährige starb nach einem brutalen Polizeieinsatz am Flughafen in Belgien