NGOs call on authorities to stop use of torture

The inhuman treatment in detention places is seriously aggravated by the fact that the state does not hold the torturers accountable or, if investigations are conducted, symbolic punishments are often imposed on them or the charges against them are dropped, executive director of Amnesty International (AI) Moldova Cristina Pereteatcu said in a news conference, quoted by Info-Prim Neo. “Responsibility is the essence of any equitable society. In such a society, everyone’s right to physical integrity is protected not only by putting signatures on international treaties, but also by taking steps to prevent inhuman treatment in places of detention,” said Cristina Pereteatcu. Before the UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, the defenders of human rights call upon the authorities to stop the use of torture on both banks of the Nistru and to hold the torturers responsible. “The taxes are collected for this end as well. In Moldova’s case, it means that the citizens contribute money in order to be tortured,” said the executive director of AI Moldova. Ludmila Popovici, executive director of the Rehabilitation Center for Torture Victims “Memoria”, stressed the importance of implementing the recommendations of the Istanbul Protocol. “It is a basic instrument for an efficient investigation and guidelines for documentation of cases of torture and inhuman and/or degrading treatment. The implementation of the Istanbul Protocol in Moldova can significantly contribute to stopping impunity for torturers and to ensuring justice and the provision of damages for the victims and their families,” said Ludmila Popovici. According to Alexandru Postica, of Promo-LEX Association, another perpetual problem is the impasse in the Transnistrian region, which does not obey the constitutional authorities and where torture is widely used. “In the given region, there is no credible, legal and efficient instrument for monitoring the situation of the detention places. The situation gets out of control owing to the impunity of the persons in Transnistria. Even if this territory is de facto not under the constitutional authorities’ control, this is not a plausible argument for Moldova as nobody annulled the state’s positive obligation towards the persons on its territory,” said Alexandru Postica. The UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture has been marked on June 26 since 1997, in memory of the UN Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment that took effect in 1987. Moldova signed the Convention in 1995, while in 2006 the Parliament ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention.