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STRASBOURG, 20.10.2000 - A delegation of the Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) recently carried out a ten-day visit to the Slovak Republic. The visit began in Bratislava on 9 October 2000. It was the Committee's second visit to Slovakia; the previous visit took place in 1995.
The visit was carried out by the following members of the CPT:
They were assisted by Jean SABATINI, Psychiatrist, Senior Lecturer in the Forensic Medical Laboratory at the Faculty of Medicine in Lyon, France (expert) and Sonja SNACKEN, Professor of Criminology and Sociology of Law at the Free University of Brussels, Belgium (expert), as well as by Jan MALINOWSKI, Bojana URUMOVA and Michael NEURAUTER of the CPT's Secretariat.
The delegation was received by Mr Ladislav PITTNER, Minister for the Interior, Mr Ján CARNOGURSKÝ, Minister for Justice, Mr Peter MAGVAŠI, Minister for Labour, Social Affairs and the Family, and Mr Roman KOVÁC, Minister for Health. It also met Mr Ladislav SCHOLCZ, Secretary of State for Justice, and held fruitful talks with other officials, including Mr Martin LAUKO, Deputy Prosecutor General.
The delegation visited the following places:
Police establishments
Bratislava
Košice
Medvedov
Detention Centre for Foreigners
Michalovce
Prisons
Social Services establishments
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 during its visit to Slovakia and its consultations with the Slovak 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. All the 41 member States of the Council of Europe are bound by the Convention: Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia", Turkey, Ukraine 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. The Committee's 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 and to interview those persons in private. The Committee 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.
Further information may be obtained from:
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