The Council on Torture Prevention (CpPT) has found that in 2018 Moldova made no progress in combating torture compared to previous years, and in some respects the situation got even worse. Prisons remain overpopulated, as detention conditions continue to be degrading. These are some of the findings contained in a CpPT report presented today.
CpPT member Dumitru Russu said material conditions in most detention facilities fall short of both national and international standards. The remand facility of the Chisinau Garrison under the Ministry of Defense is an outstanding case of a lack of any guarantees against torture or other ill-treatment.
Physical coercion and other special measures are often disproportionately employed by the police during arrests. Detained people are not always given a medical examination upon entering and exiting the detention facility. Medical personnel is not independent and fails to respect the doctor-patient privilege. There are no protocols in place to confidentially report physical harm, complain to prosecutors, to the People’s Advocate or to human rights organizations. Detainees are only superficially informed of their rights.
The report also mentions the case of the seven Turkish teachers arrested on 6 September 2018 to be subsequently deported. On September 7, CpPT members visited all the four detention facilities where arrested foreign citizens could be legally held, but they couldn’t be found there.
During other visits to detention facilities, further allegations of ill-treatment were documented. These allegations were subsequently reported to the People’s Advocate and the Prosecutor General’s Office.
The Council on Torture Prevention is calling on Parliament to monitor and facilitate the implementation of recommendations from relevant international bodies as concerns the observance of the right not to be subjected to torture and degrading treatment. The National Administration of Prisons is advised to treat equally and without distinction all the people in custody, to inform inmates of their rights, and to improve the training of the prison personnel.
As of 1 January 2019, there were about 11,000 people held in 61 detention facilities.
