News Flash
Council of Europe Anti-Torture Committee publishes report on
the départment of La Réunion
Strasbourg, 21.12.2005 - The Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention
of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment has published today
the report on its visit to the administrative district (département) of La
Réunion in December 2004, together with the response of the French Government.
These documents have been made public with the agreement of the French
authorities.
The Committee’s visit was triggered by information received about a difficult
situation prevailing in the départment’s prisons, as a result in particular of
their overcrowding. In the course of the visit, the CPT also examined the
treatment of persons placed in police custody on the island of La Réunion. In
this connection, the Committee reviewed the implementation of the Ministry of
the Interior’s instructions on safeguarding the dignity of persons placed in
police custody and the issue of fundamental safeguards for such persons, with
particular reference to the right of access to a lawyer.
The Committee intends to return to France in 2006 to carry out a periodic
visit.
The CPT’s visit report and the
response of the French Government are
available on the Committte’s web site :
http://www.cpt.coe.int
- A "CPT Video-kit" is available for the audiovisual press. For more details
please access our page "For the press".
