Marcus Omofuma died as a result of police violence
On 1 May 1999, nine days before his 26th birthday, Marcus Omofuma died during a deportation flight to Bulgaria. He was a Nigerian citizen who had first applied for asylum in Germany and then in Austria due to political persecution, only to be rejected in the last instance and deported, tortured, and killed.
Police officers tied Marcus Omofuma to an aeroplane seat with adhesive tape, as he was resisting deportation. His mouth and nose were also taped up. Marcus Omofuma suffocated during the flight. An expert report on the cause of death prepared in Bulgaria further revealed that pressure had been exerted on Marcus Omofuma’s chest, a point later dismissed as false by the Austrian government, which had commissioned its own expert report. Two further expert assessments finally confirmed the results of the examination conducted by the Bulgarian doctor, Stojcho Radanov: Marcus Omofuma had died of asphyxiation.
The court proceedings in the death of Marcus Omofuma revealed a pattern that should be all too familiar in the context of racially motivated police crimes. The three officers were given a suspended sentence of eight months’ imprisonment for involuntary manslaughter and then allowed to continue in their jobs.
Marcus Omofuma became one of the first prominent cases of police violence in Austria, in a never-ending series of ‘isolated cases’ of violence against asylum seekers and BIPoC. It led to public protests and continues to serve as a chilling example of a racist system within the institution of the police. The similarity to many other cases that have recently led to movements such as Black Lives Matter is shameful for a European society supposedly committed to upholding human rights.
Marcus Omofuma’s death should also serve as a reminder that racism has no place in a pluralistic society. In Vienna, on the corner of Mariahilfer Straße and Museumsplatz, a memorial commemorates Marcus Omofuma, who died far too young, murdered by police officers.
