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Council of Europe anti-torture Committee visits Azerbaijan

Strasbourg, 16.12.2008 - A delegation of the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) carried out an ad hoc visit to Azerbaijan from 8 to 12 December.

The main objective of the visit was to review improvements made in the light of the recommendations in the reports on previous CPT visits to Azerbaijan, concerning the treatment of prisoners – including inmates sentenced to life imprisonment – and psychiatric patients.

In the course of the visit, the delegation held consultations with the Minister of Justice, Fikrat MAMMADOV, and the Deputy Minister of Health, Sanan KARIMOV, as well as with other senior officials from the above-mentioned Ministries. The delegation also met representatives of civil society.

The visit was carried out by the following members of the CPT:

• Vladimir ORTAKOV, Head of delegation (citizen of “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”),
• Ömer ATALAR (Turkish),
• Anna GAVRILOVA-ANTCHEVA (Bulgarian),
• Jean-Pierre RESTELLINI (Swiss).

They were supported by Elvin ALIYEV and Borys WÓDZ of the Committee’s Secretariat, and assisted by Clive MEUX, consultant forensic psychiatrist, Oxford (United Kingdom).

The delegation visited the following establishments:

Establishments under the authority of the Ministry of Justice

• Central Penitentiary Hospital, Baku
• Gobustan Prison

Establishments under the authority of the Ministry of Health

• Central Psychiatric Hospital, Baku
• Republican Psychiatric Hospital No. 1, Mashtaga
• Regional Psycho-Neurological Dispensary, Sheki.

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