Serbia probes video of rehab center beating

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-05-22 22:02

BELGRADE, Serbia -- Serbian authorities are investigating a church-sponsored drug rehab facility after the publication of a video showing one of the patients being severely beaten with a shovel and brass knuckles.

The Health Ministry said in a statement Friday that it will dispatch an inspection team to investigate methods used at the Crna Reka (Black River) rehabilitation center in southern Serbia, which is run by the Serbian Orthodox Church.

Government human rights monitor Sasa Jankovic said he would file torture charges against the facility.

The church rehabilitation center has been known for its strict methods, isolated location and poor living conditions. Earlier media reports about the facility have shown rehab patients carrying out daily duties in total isolation from the outside world.

But the video posted this week by the Vreme weekly goes further. It shows a young man, an apparent patient, being beaten with a shovel and heavily punched and kicked by a man wearing brass knuckles. The beating takes place in a room decorated with icons, traditional Orthodox Christian religious paintings.

The magazine did not say where it obtained the video.

The priests at the facility said beatings were a necessary part of the therapy and were carried out with the consent of patients' parents.

Head of the center Branislav Peranovic said "a heavy hand is necessary."

"Whoever has a junkie in the house knows what I am talking about," he told B92 television.

The Serbian Orthodox Church has declined comment. But doctors and psychologists warned that physical violence cannot help rehabilitation or the healing of the addicts.

Jasmina Daragan-Saveljic head of the state-run hospital for treating addicts, said beatings were "unacceptable." She said treatment must be voluntary to be successful.

Rights ombudsman Jankovic added: "It is no therapy. It is a criminal act."

The ministry said Crna Reka does not have a license for treating drug addicts. It did not specify if the center would be closed.