A United Nations (UN) anti-torture panel has urged the United States to punish law enforcement officials who mistreated suspects.
The 10-member UN Committee Against Torture reported that the multimillion-dollar investigation into the alleged torture of well over 100 Black men in interrogation rooms during the 1970s and 1980s has not resulted in any prosecutions.
According to a press release, 135 African Americans were tortured by former Commander Jon Burge and detectives under his command at the Chicago Police Department. Torture techniques ranged from electrically shocking genitals with cattle prods to suffocations with plastic bags.
‘Despite mountains of evidence that Burge and his officers ‘systematically’ and ‘methodically’ tortured African Americans at police headquarters, and a four-year investigation costing $7.3 million, we’re still waiting on indictments,’ said Joey Mogul, a lesbian attorney with the People’s Law Office in Chicago, which represents several torture victims. ‘We had no choice but to take our case to the UN so that these officers can be held fully accountable for their criminal acts of torture.’
On May 19, Chief Criminal Court Judge Paul Biebel ruled that the investigation report should be publicly released, but the document will be withheld for at least two weeks.