News Flash
Council of Europe Anti-Torture Committee visits
Hungary
12.04.2005 - A delegation of the Council of Europe's Committee for the
Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT)
recently carried out a ten-day visit to Hungary. The visit, which began on 30
March 2005, was the Committee's third periodic visit to Hungary.
During the visit, the CPT's delegation followed up a number of issues examined
during previous visits, in particular the holding of remand prisoners on police
premises, the treatment of foreign nationals held under the aliens legislation,
as well as the situation in prisons and social care homes. The delegation also
visited for the first time the only high-security psychiatric hospital in
Hungary, accommodating patients undergoing compulsory psychiatric treatment by
court order.
In the course of the visit, the CPT’s delegation held consultations with József
PETRÉTEI, Minister of Justice, Jenö RÁCZ, Minister of Health, Kinga GÖNCZ,
Minister of Youth, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, as well as
senior officials responsible for the police, Border Guard establishments,
prisons, psychiatric hospitals and social care homes.
It also met Péter POLT,
Prosecutor General, and Albert TAKÁCS, General Deputy Parliamentary Commissioner
for Civil Rights.
The visit was carried out by the following members of the CPT:
- Renate KICKER, Head of
delegation (Austrian)
- Ingrid LYCKE ELLINGSEN (Norwegian)
- Esteban MESTRE DELGADO (Spanish)
- Vladimir ORTAKOV (citizen of "the
former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”)
- Tatiana RADUCANU (Moldovan).
They were supported by Petya NESTOROVA (Head of Unit), Borys WÓDZ and Johan
FRIESTEDT of the CPT's Secretariat, and assisted by two experts: James McMANUS,
Professor of Criminal Justice, Glasgow Caledonian University, United Kingdom,
and Alan MITCHEL, Former Head of Health Care, Scottish Prison Service, United
Kingdom.
The delegation visited the following places:
Establishments under the Ministry of the Interior
- Police Central Holding Facility,
Budapest
- 3rd District Police Station,
Budapest
- 6th/7th District Police Station,
Budapest
- Kalocsa Police Station
- Kiskunhalas Police Station
- Orosháza Police Station
- Csongrád County Main Police
Directorate, Szeged
- Kiskunhalas Border Guard Holding
Facility for Aliens
- Orosháza Border Guard Holding
Facility for Aliens
- Röszke Border Guard Station
- Szeged Border Guard Directorate
Establishments under the Ministry of Justice
- Budapest Remand Prison (Unit III)
- Kalocsa Prison for Women
- Szeged Prison
- Judicial and Observation
Psychiatric Institute (IMEI), Budapest
Establishments under the Ministry of Youth, Family, Social Affairs and
Equal Opportunities
- Home for Persons with Psychiatric
Disorders and Mental Disabilities, Kiskunhalas
