Repubblika demands police explanations on prison abuse 'findings'

Repubblika has demanded explanations from the police after Police Commissioner Angelo Gafa' declared last week that the police found no evidence of criminal abuse by the prison authorities in the wake of a report by the Ombudsman alleging degrading treatment of inmates.

The NGO noted that the Ombudsman’s report had found systematic maladministration, degrading treatment, intimidation, arbitrary punishment, and serious administrative failures within the prison.

“When such conclusions emerge, a closed-door police statement does not inspire confidence. On the contrary, it raises more questions,” the NGO said.

Repubblika highlighted a structural concern: both the Police Commissioner and the Prison Director ultimately fall under the same minister. “In such a setup, the public cannot rely solely on assurances that nothing wrong happened and that, if it had, the police would have acted without fear or favour.”

The group clarified that it was not accusing the police of acting in bad faith but it is demanding proof of good faith.

It called for answers to basic questions:

• Was a magisterial inquiry opened?
• Did the police hear the same witnesses as the Ombudsman?
• Was there a full review of the Ombudsman’s findings and evidence?
• Did investigators seek the Attorney General’s opinion?
• Were allegations of retaliatory punishment and degrading treatment examined?

“If the State cannot answer these questions, we cannot be assured that justice was served,” Repubblika said.

The NGO stressed that this was not about the past but about preventing future abuse. It called for independent external oversight of closed institutions — prisons, detention centres, and psychiatric facilities — rather than dependence on the same political authority under investigation.

“Prison residents are under the State’s total control and therefore under its full responsibility. Human dignity does not vanish when someone is locked up,”  the NGO said.

It therefore called for publication of investigative measures taken and the legal basis for closing the inquiry and a reform to guarantee independent external oversight whenever allegations concerning institutions under the ministry that controls the police.

“In a democracy, it is not enough to say ‘we found no crime.’ The public needs to see that everything necessary was done — especially when alleged victims have no means to speak for themselves,” the group concluded.