Less torture in prisons over the last 5 years

Over the last 5 years, since the implementation of the National Mechanism for Prevention of Torture, the situation has improved in this regard. However, experts say they had higher expectations at the beginning. The issue was discussed at the meeting of the Club of Investigative Journalists, Info-Prim Neo reports. Anatolie Munteanu, director of the Center for Human Rights in Moldova and head of the National Mechanism for Prevention of Torture, said that the main expectation regarded a visit system in detention centers. “There are visits in prisons, commissariats, guard units, military units, police stations, orphanages and asylums. These visits are random, sometimes planned, sometimes a result of complaints from potential victims of torture”, said the ombudsman. According to Anatolie Munteanu, in the first period, the heads of the visited institutions were reluctant and sometimes limited the access of ombudsmen and civil society representatives. “We show them the law, we show them our passes, but they still wouldn’t let us in. We started to undertake several visits a day so that they understood this is also possible, instead of thinking that we were done after a single visit”, said Anatolie Munteanu. Today, the ombudsman says that the representatives of the Mechanism are received differently and this can be considered an improvement. Meanwhile, there is still the issue of money. The state doesn’t offer more financial support, although the duties of workers have increased. According to the agents of the National Mechanism for Prevention of Torture, the places with the highest frequency of torture are the police commissariats. Torture is used to obtain information and as a punishment or means of humiliation. Moldova lost over €15 million in trials at the European Court of Human Rights. 8 of the 43 lost trials were cases that took place in Penitentiary no.13 in Chisinau. Experts say that this is the prison where human rights are violated most often.