Torture in Chicago [View All]

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http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-torture15.html

Panel hears claims of anti-black cop brutality here

WASHINGTON -- Community activists argued before an international human-rights panel Friday that Chicago has a long history of police brutality against blacks and cover-ups by authorities that should be investigated and put in the world's spotlight.

Attorneys for the victims pleaded for an onsite investigation, including interviews of Mayor Daley, to get to the bottom of what they said was the city's record of systematic abuse of blacks at the hands of the police.

No city officials spoke before the three-member panel of the Organization of American States' Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Daley, traveling to Poland, was unavailable for comment, said spokeswoman Jennifer Martinez.

Bernardine Dohrn, a law professor at Northwestern University and spokeswoman for the Midwest Coalition for Human Rights, said that during a 19-year period ending in 1991, Chicago Police displayed "extreme discrimination and racism" in torturing 135 blacks, and no officers were ever charged or tried.