Widow sues Dutch cops over husband's death in custody

The widow of a 35-year-old Macedonian man, who died during an arrest in Maastricht on December 20th, is suing the police. She is accusing the police of murder or manslaughter, her lawyer Hakan Kulcu confirmed to newspaper AD.

Bekim Hasiani died after a struggle ina shopping center in Maastricht. Police, Koninklijke Marechaussee - a Dutch policing force that works as a branch of the military - and bystanders were involved in the struggle. According to Kulcu, a chokehold was used on Hasani. The Macedonian man unsuccessfully sought asylum in Belgium and recently came to the Netherlands. He was informed that he had to leave the European Union a day before his death.

According to Hasani's widow, a woman from Meerssen who he married in 2012, her husband was suffering from psychosis and urgently needed to be admitted. He was suffering from delusions and hallucinations. According to the lawyer, the wife found the situation so unsafe that she called the police on December 18th. She hoped that the police would have him admitted, as their own attempts to do so failed because the man had no insurance, according to the lawyer.

The police took him to a police station, but released him again the next day. A day later, on December 20th, he died during an attempt to arrest him again. According to the lawyer, what exactly happened in the Maastricht shopping center is unclear. A police statement said that they were arresting the man based on reports of a disturbed man causing problems. The charges of murder or manslaughter applies to everyone who used violence against the man on December 20th, according to the lawyer.