Police tortured a young trans woman: she remains in custody

The organization Panambí filed a complaint against Asunción police for “torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment” of a 23-year-old transgender woman. She has been detained for a week and says she is being arbitrarily accused. The complaint was filed with the Human Rights Prosecutor's Office in Asunción and the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture (MNP). 

transvesticide Andrea Gonzalez Ciudad del Este

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The organization Panambí filed a complaint against police officers in Asunción for “torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment” of a 23-year-old transgender woman. She has been detained for a week and says she is being arbitrarily accused. The complaint was filed with the Human Rights Prosecutor's Office in Asunción and the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture (MNP) . By María Sanz, from Asunción Photos: archive Presents: Insfrán Pérez/Gutraich In the early morning of August 29, a 23-year-old trans woman was arrested by police in a “red-light district” of Asunción and arbitrarily charged. The organization Panambí reported that she was taken to police station number 15, where she was beaten and tortured. Panambí has ​​already filed a complaint for torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment with the Human Rights Prosecutor's Office in Asunción. The case has also been referred to the Human Rights Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior and to the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture (MNP) , the state body that monitors the treatment of individuals in state custody. Meanwhile, the young woman has been deprived of her liberty for a week. Discriminated against in the job market because of her gender identity, she works as a sex worker in an area near the Asunción Bus Terminal, one of the areas considered a “red-light district.” city. Last week, she was there when police officers approached her and pushed her into a police vehicle. She would later recount that once inside the vehicle, the officers began to beat and verbally abuse her while the patrol car drove around the area. They questioned her about the perpetrator of an alleged robbery that had occurred that night and told her they wouldn't release her until she confessed. never told her why they were arresting her or where they were taking her . The police took her to the 15th police station, near one of the exits from Asunción and the border with the municipalities of Lambaré and Fernando de la Mora, in Greater Asunción. At that station, the mistreatment and physical and verbal abuse continued.

"They beat him up"

“They hit her in the eye, in the arm, and in the stomach. She's a girl who doesn't have much physical strength. She's very fragile. We know she wasn't going to resist. It was a abuse of force by police officers“Yren Rotela, a representative of Panambí, an organization that represents trans people in Paraguay and supports the complaint about the alleged torture, told Presentes. Rotela added that the young woman also received verbal abuse, specifically directed at offend him/her because of his/her gender identity“They called her a ‘faggot.’ They said to her: ‘Haven’t you got any shame, you’re a pig, why do you have long hair? Why do you dress like a woman?’” Rotela said. Police accused her of assaulting a young police academy student, stealing money and a cell phone. The alleged robbery occurred Monday night near the bus terminal. She has maintained her innocence throughout.

They denounce torture and cruel treatment

The activists from Panambí learned of the case on Thursday, and filed a complaint. complaint for acts of torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment before the Human Rights Prosecutor's Office in Asunción. They also took the case to the Human Rights Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior, and to National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture (NMP). The members of Panambí provided the young woman with two lawyers: one for the case concerning the alleged robbery, and another to follow up on the torture complaint. The lawyer handling the torture complaint, Carlota Rivarola, told Presentes that she confirmed the victim had bruises on her eye, face, and arm. These injuries occurred after police officers punched her "with closed fists." However, she was not given a medical examination for the physical abuse she suffered. Only after Panambí and the lawyers intervened was she taken to a hospital. “They first took her to the Trauma Hospital in Asunción. There they confirmed that she had suffered blows, although she didn't have any broken bones. Then they transferred her to the district hospital in Lambaré (Greater Asunción),” Rivarola explained.

“Too often”

Rivarola also said that cases of police violence against transgender people “occur far too often.” In this particular case, the aggression began the moment she entered the police vehicle. “Police officers don’t learn to respect differences. We think the mistreatment would have been much worse if she had been alone, if she hadn’t had the support of her colleagues. Police officers aren’t prepared, and These acts of violence frequently occur due to prejudice. "that they have," the lawyer observed.
[READ MORE: Paraguay: Trans people doubled reports of violence]

One week in custody

Trans youth accused of torture in Paraguay How is the investigation progressing? Rivarola said that the Human Rights Prosecutor's Office will have to request the list of police officers involved in the arrest and open an internal investigation to clarify the facts.
The lawyer insisted that the young woman was not the prime suspect in the theft. “The victim of the alleged theft did not identify her as the perpetrator. It was the police who decided to question her. They thought that because she worked in the same area where the theft occurred, she might know who had committed it. And when she said she knew nothing, they began to beat her,” the lawyer stated. The young woman served seven days of arrest at the 15th police station in Asunción. She is awaiting the resolution of the case for the alleged theft for which she remains detained.

Police violence: “normalized”

Last Friday, Panambi issued a public statement denouncing the case and the context in which it occurs.Trans people are treated with stigma, violence, and criminalization. We are discriminated against by government entities that trample on our rights to justice, declaring us guilty at the slightest suspicion. Today, faced with yet another incident of police abuse, The officers do not respect the gender identity of trans peopleusing all kinds of discriminatory adjectives, and They violate and harm our bodies“,” part of the statement reads.

“We suffer violence of all kinds.

Yren Rotela believes that police abuse against transvestite or trans sex workers is a type of “normalized” violence.We suffer violence of all kinds: physical, verbal, or psychological. “You don’t need to be arrested for that. Many times, the police drive by in a patrol car and insult you. Or they shine their lights in your face to blind you. And when someone is arrested, at the police station they throw water on them, pull their hair, slap them, and insult them because of their gender identity,” she said. The activist believes that police violence against trans sex workers is a deliberate tactic. move them from their work area. “I think they’re ordered to attack trans women so we’ll go there. But where are we supposed to go if we don’t have any other job options?” Rotela asks. She also says that, on many occasions, when a trans sex worker is arrested for an alleged crime, the arrest is motivated by false accusations from a client. “It’s usually a problem with a client who doesn’t want to pay. Then they approach a police officer to report that they were nearly robbed. Or that their car stalled at a traffic light and the trans women attacked them,” she explained. “We are so criminalized that our innocence is no longer presumed. In these cases, We are not condemned for a deed we have committed, but for our identity.“,” he added.

Mistreatment and torture of trans people in police stations

According to the report, police violence against transgender people in Paraguay occurs at all stages of custody, from the moment of arrest to police transport, and especially in police stations. according to the 2016 report Panambí reports on the situation of violence against the trans community in Paraguay. Verbal abuse, extortion, demands for sexual favors, use of force, and beatings are some of the practices of police mistreatment of detained transgender people, this document states. It includes cases in which police officers humiliate transgender people and force them to remove their wigs, use firearms to injure or incapacitate them, or when addressing them... They deliberately use a gender different from the one they identify with. The report warns that there is a significant underreporting of violence complaints against transgender people, whether perpetrated by the police or others. In 2016, the HIV and Human Rights Complaints Center received a total of 87 complaints. These were for physical violence, discrimination based on gender identity, and discrimination based on sexual orientation against transgender people. The report estimates that this figure It doesn't even represent a third of the cases that occur.
Learn about your rights in the event of an arrest in Paraguay.
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