CoE anti-torture Committee interrupts visit to Transnistrian region

A delegation of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) of the Council of Europe, which traveled to the Transnistrian region for a fact-finding visit at the detention establishments, has interrupted its mission because of certain restrictions imposed by the authorities in Tiraspol, CPT said in a press release. The CPT delegation complained that during the visit, started on July 21, its members were refused to talk with prisoners in private, despite beforehand consultations with Serghei Stepanov, the person responsible in the region for justice-related issues. “Such a restriction contradicts one of the fundamental characteristics of the preventive mechanism embodied by the CPT, namely the power to interview in private any person deprived of his or her liberty. Consequently, the Committee’s delegation decided to interrupt its visit to places of deprivation of liberty in the region until such time as the enjoyment of this power could be guaranteed”, reads the press release, quoted by Info-Prim Neo. The intention of the delegation was to review the situation of persons deprived of their liberty in police and prison establishments. On the western side of the Nistru, the CPT delegation visited remand centers in Tighina, Anenii-Noi and Chisinau, having the opportunity to interview the prisoners on the treatment by the police and presenting preliminary observations to the authorities in Chisinau.