A Gold Coast police officer who leaked video footage of his colleagues assaulting a handcuffed man could face charges and jail time, civil libertarians say.
Australian Council for Civil Liberties president Terry O'Gorman says the case goes to the heart of the risks whistleblowers take.
He's called on Police Minister Jo-Ann Miller to take a personal interest in the case if charges are laid, and he says all Queenslanders should be watching the case closely.
"Queenslanders will say what sort of a system have we got where a video shows a number of police belting the hell out of a bloke. They don't get charged, but the officer who leaks the video to the media gets charged," Mr O'Gorman told the ABC.
He said the assault had ultimately cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in a payout to the victim.
The leaked video footage was published by media outlets in early 2012.
It showed a 21-year-old man being slammed face first into a concrete floor before being hit by officers using their knees, elbows and fists.
It showed the man again being punched a number of times after being put in the back of a police van, and a senior officer throwing a bucket of water on the concrete to wash away the man's blood.
At the time, Noa Begic said he was arrested after a night out in Surfers Paradise and was assaulted repeatedly on the drive to the local police station and then later in the basement.
"They were making racist comments about me and then when we ended up in that basement I knew there was more on the way," he said.
Public nuisance charges against Begic were ultimately dropped after then-Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson intervened.
The officers filmed carrying out the assault were subject to an internal police investigation, with two facing disciplinary action.
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