Dutch woman wrongly suspected of drug possession files constitutional case against police

A Dutch woman who spent sixteen hours under arrest on suspicion of drug possession, during which she was made to search her own faeces and subjected to intimate searches, has filed a constitutional case against the Attorney General and the Commissioner of Police this morning.

In the constitutional application, signed by lawyers Franco Debono, Angie Muscat and Marion Camilleri, Jennifer Koster, who was subsequently released without charge, is requesting the court declare that police had subjected her to arbitrary arrest and to inhuman and degrading treatment while in custody and to “hand down the effective and fitting remedies, in the circumstances.”

Koster claims that she arrived in Malta on 18 November last year and had passed through the arrivals area of the airport without incident. After spending some time at the airport, she left with her Maltese boyfriend, but was stopped by three unmarked police cars in the Imriehel area.

The woman claims that such was the aggressive demeanour of the plainclothes police officers - who at that point had not yet identified themselves - that the couple drove off. However, they were forced to stop further down the road, at which point the police identified themselves and dragged the woman and her boyfriend from the car.

Koster was made to endure a vaginal examination and was also administered a laxative, before being made to search her own excrement. No drugs were found and she was released without charge after spending sixteen hours in custody.

The application cites arbitrary arrest and disproportionate use of force by the police, who she claims handcuffed her, in spite of her not resisting and that the police had failed to inform her of her rights during the arrest, together with her having been subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment, as the grounds for the constitutional proceedings.