According to information broadcast on Sunday by RTS, six migrant minors filed a complaint for mistreatment while they were housed in the Rochat asylum center (VD).
Since last year, the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) has decided to welcome unaccompanied minor applicants aged 16 to 17 in the Rochat military barracks, above the Vaud commune of Provence.
Between March and May 2023, the six migrants say they suffered mistreatment by security agents from the Protectas company. They filed a complaint for “kidnapping, coercion, bodily harm and abuse of authority,” the RTS Investigation Department learned.
“What these young people experienced is contrary to the internal regulations of the SEM, and also contrary to certain provisions of the child protection convention,” explains the lawyer for two of them, Me Milena Peev. She also mentions the use of a “temporary accommodation room”, as a dungeon: “This is a deprivation of liberty pronounced arbitrarily, it is a violation of a fundamental right” .
The SEM and the Protectas company declined the invitation to speak for the RTS, given the ongoing investigation. “It is now up to justice to do its job,” said SEM spokesperson Anne Césard. She added that if an agent behaves “which does not comply with his specifications, we ask his employer that he no longer works in our centers”.
However, during their interrogation before the police, the targeted collaborators disputed the alleged facts and said they had used “proportionate use of force against applicants with aggressive behavior”. Three of them filed a complaint against one of the minors for “threats and insults”.
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