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Press Release

Visit by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture to France

STRASBOURG, 24.10.96 - A delegation of the COUNCIL OF EUROPE Committee for the prevention of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (CPT) has recently carried out a two week visit to France. The visit, which began on 6 October 1996, was carried out within the framework of the CPT's programme of periodic visits for 1996.

The members of the delegation were:

• Claude NICOLAY, President of the CPT (Head of the Delegation) (Luxemburger)
• Leopoldo TORRES BOURSAULT, Second Vice-President of the CPT (Spanish)
• Constantin ECONOMIDES (Greek)
• Miklós MAGYAR (Hungarian)
• Gisela PERREN-KLINGLER (Swiss)
• Florin STANESCU (Romanian).

The delegation was assisted by Dominique BERTRAND (Head of the Prison Medicine Division, University Institute of Forensic Medicine, Geneva) and Françoise TULKENS (Professor, President of the Criminology and Penal Law Department, Catholic University of Louvain), as well as by two members of the CPT's Secretariat.

The delegation visited the following places:

Police establishments

Marseille

• Police Headquarters, rue du Commissaire Antoine Becker, 2nd arrondissement
• Police Station, rue Félix Pyat, 3rd arrondissement
• Arenc Administrative Detention Centre

Montpellier

• Police Headquarters, avenue du Professeur Grasset

Paris

• "Dépôt" of the Police Prefecture (including the Administrative Detention Centre), Quai de l'Horloge, 1st arrondissement
• Minors Protection Unit, Quai de Gesvres, 4th arrondissement
• Police Stations at the Gare du Nord, 10th arrondissement
• Goutte d'Or Police Station (rue de la Goutte d'Or), 18th arrondissement
• Public Security and Central Police Stations of the 19th (rue André Dubois) and 20th (avenue Gambetta) arrondissements

Gendarmerie establishments

• Territorial Brigades at Berre-l'Etang, Marignane and Montpellier

Prisons

• Fleury-Mérogis Young Offenders Detention Centre
• Marseille Prison ("Les Baumettes")
• Paris Remand Prison ("La Santé") (including the holding facilities of the Palais de Justice, Paris)
• Villeneuve-les-Maguelonne Remand Prison

Other establishments

• Unit for Difficult Patients at the Montfavet Special Hospital Centre
• Emergency Service and Cusco Ward at the Hôtel-Dieu Hospital, Paris
• Psychiatric Infirmary of the Paris Police Prefecture

In accordance with Article 11 of the European Convention for the prevention of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the information gathered by the CPT in relation to its visit to France and its consultations with the French authorities are confidential.

The CPT was set up under the 1987 European Convention for the prevention of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The following member States of the Council of Europe are bound by the Convention: Albania (as from 01.02.97), Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

The CPT is composed of persons from a variety of backgrounds: lawyers, medical doctors, prison experts, persons with parliamentary experience, etc. Its task is to examine the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty. For this purpose, it is entitled to visit any place where such persons are held by a public authority. It may formulate recommendations to strengthen, if necessary, their protection against torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

The CPT organises periodic visits as well as any other visits which appear to it to be required in the circumstances.

For further information:

• Media representatives:
  should contact the Council of Europe Press Service, Strasbourg
  (Sabine ZIMMER, Tel. -+33/(0)3 88.41.25.97; fax +33/(0)3 88.41.27.90)
• others:
  should contact the Secretariat of the CPT
  (Tel. +33/(0)3 88.41.23.88; fax : +33/(0)3 88.41.27.72)