The sad fate of Oury Jalloh

Oury Jalloh an African from Sierra Leone who applied for a political asylum in Germany was burnt to death in a police cell in Dessau Germany on January 7 2005. He was alone in the cell and with his hands and feet tied to a mattress when the fire alarm went off. One of the 2 police officers on duty simply turned off the alarm and didn’t bother to check what was happening in the cell. In 2007 both police officers were charged for causing bodily harm with fatal consequences and involuntary manslaughter. Both of them were acquitted in December 2008 due to lack of evidence by the presiding judge of the case, the judge said there were contradictory testimony which prevented clarification of the circumstances therefore obstructing a due process. In January 2011 a German federal court of justice nullified the acquittals. The investigators of the case said the fire broke out in the cell around midday and the fire alarm went off at least on 2 occasions. Noises and cries for help coming from the acoustically controlled cell were registered but ignored. Supposedly, the supervising police officer turned off the sound of the acoustic system because he could not understand a telephone conversation. He was finally forced to go down to the cell in the basement when the air-control alarm went off.