The number of cases of torture and inhumane treatment is increasing, worsening the situation of human rights in Moldova – this statement was made on Thursday by the experts of the Helsinki Committee in Moldova (CHDOM) during the presentation of their half-year performance report. Inhumane treatment is commonplace both in correctional facilities and remand centers. In the first months of this year CHDOM received about 200 complaints. In 3 percent of them the detainees complain of physical punishment; five percent of them concern cases of psychological harm; in 18 percent of them the inmates lament degrading conditions, failure to observe feeding standards, and limited access to medical assistance. According to CHDOM managing director Teo Carnat, the leadership of the Department for Penitentiary Institutions is covering up cases of torture, which makes such cases harder to trace. The medical assistance offered to the inmates is insufficient. The administered drugs are most often expired. In Pruncul penitentiary, for instance, an inmate swallowed the handle of a metal cup in protest, and the doctors were giving him painkillers instead of a surgery, said Teo Carnat. Sergiu Arhiliuc, a law expert for CHDOM, thinks that the phenomenon of torture persists because of the absence of a viable body which would supervise the activity of the correctional facilities. Another CHDOM law expert, Andrei Briceag, says that the persons subjected to torture have no one to turn for aid to. Usually, the prosecutor's office would prefer to stay aside when it is notified. Many inmates complain of failing health and chronic diseases. The CHDOM experts believe that if a person is healthy when he goes to prison then the government is responsible for the disease he is developing while behind bars.