- BY Colin Yeo
Channel 4 investigates life and tragic death of Alois Dvorzac
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Which all leads us to the following devastating question: how did this life, so full of historical resonance, affection and adventure, end up extinguished, in handcuffs, in a British asylum detention centre?
Great journalism but very upsetting piece. The Home Office attempt to blame the security contractors is particularly repugnant.
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Colin Yeo
Immigration and asylum barrister, blogger, writer and consultant at Garden Court Chambers in London and founder of the Free Movement immigration law website.
5 responses
A horribly sad case that painfully illuminates how Kafkaesque the world of immigration detention can be: that there can be an 84 year old with Alzheimer’s in detention, whom everyone realises shouldn’t – mustn’t – be there, but that noone can manage to get released. It’s a place imbued with power, and yet where almost everyone seems utterly impotent. GEO are responsible for Mr Dvorzac being unnecessarily restrained, but they would have had no influence over his being detained, and yet had to deal with the practical realities of incarcerating an elderly man with dementia, however much they might not have wanted to. The doctors are employed to ensure detainees’ health and well-being, but are ignored when they do everything in their power to highlight that someone is demonstrably not fit for detention. The Home Office’s own Rule 35 forms, filed by such doctors when there is the suggestion that someone shouldn’t be detained, because, for example they have been tortured, are dismissed seemingly out of hand as not constituting evidence of torture… And so it goes on. I think of the frustration and madness of Kafka’s ‘The Trial’ every time I step foot in an Immigration Removal Centre.
Like ALL DECENT people I was sickened when I listened to Channel 4’s News item about Alois. I was also not surprised in the slightest when the Home Office attempted to dump all the blame on their sub-contractor – because this is what the Home Office is good at …. NEVER accepting blame or criticism.
I think we need a new system to PROTECT travellers who are just Transiting through the UK.
Why the hell should the UKBA be allowed to Imprison and sometimes Un-Lawfully Kill people who are NOT TRYING TO ENTER the UK ?
CH4 stated that Alois had been handcuffed for 5 hours before he died. What sort of threat could an 84 year old pose for him to be restrained for so long ? Heck, the police don’t usually handcuff VIOLENT THUGS for that long !
I wish the whole of the British Population would take a greater interest in what goes on at the Home Office. I don’t mean reading what the Gutter Press has to say, or prats like Nigel Farage. I’m sure the UK would take a Huge step toward revolution if the majority realised what an Evil Organisation it is.
who was Alois Dvorczak? When I first heard the name, of course I looked it up on google, but being a Lukes spelt it the Czech way and got this http://fcafa.wordpress.com/2011/07/07/alois-dvorak/. So I post it here to remind people about the Czechs and Poles and others who died in the Battle of Britain defending a country whose Prime Minister would tell us that these eastern Europeans were unwwelcome thieves of British jobs.