News Flash
Council of Europe Anti-Torture Committee publishes report on
Georgia
Strasbourg, 30.06.2005 - The Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention
of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) has published
today its second report on Georgia. The report concerns the CPT’s periodic visit
to that country which took place in two parts: in November 2003 and in May 2004.
In the report, the CPT concluded that criminal suspects continued to run a
significant risk of being ill-treated by the police. To prevent ill-treatment,
the Committee has proposed measures concerning in particular the integration of
human rights concepts into practical professional training and the stepping up
of the training of investigators and police operational staff in modern
interrogation and investigation techniques. The CPT has also recommended that
the legal safeguards against ill-treatment (such as notification of custody,
access to a lawyer and access to a doctor) be rendered fully effective in
practice.
As regards prisons, the CPT has expressed concern at the lack of progress in
numerous areas of the Georgian penitentiary system. The increase in the prison
population and the very poor state of the existing prison estate rendered
conditions in many establishments in clear violation of the provisions of both
Georgian legislation and international standards. On the positive side, the CPT
noted that considerable progress had been made in the area of combating the
spread of tuberculosis.
The Georgian government, which requested the publication of the CPT’s report, is
preparing its response to the points raised by the Committee.
The CPT's visit report is available on the Committee's website: http://www.cpt.coe.int
