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Council of Europeâ€™s Anti-Torture Committee announces its annual report

10 November 2011 12:34 (UTC +04:00)

APAâ€™s European bureau reports that in its report, the committee urges the states to minimize the use of solitary confinement of prisoners. This measure should be applied only in exceptional circumstances and for the shortest possible period of time.

In most countries courts can order that a person remanded in custody be held for a certain period in solitary confinement in the interests of a criminal investigation. These decisions should be made in open court, through a fully reasoned judgment, be separately appealable and be reviewed on a frequent basis. The CPT considers that solitary confinement should never be imposed as part of a courtâ€™s sentence, which is still possible in some countries. Solitary confinement can also be used as a disciplinary sanction. The trend in Europe is towards lowering the maximum period for which it can be imposed for this purpose. The CPT considers that the maximum possible period of solitary confinement as a punishment should be no higher than 14 days, and preferably lower.

Besides, in the report the CPT also calls on states to guarantee the right to access to a lawyer from the very outset of a personâ€™s deprivation of liberty, irrespective of the category of the alleged offence. The CPT acknowledges that it may be exceptionally necessary to delay for a certain period of time a detained personâ€™s access to a lawyer of his choice, but emphasizes that this should not result in the right of access to a lawyer being totally denied; arrangements should be in place for the appointment of a replacement lawyer in such cases.

During the period covered by its 21st annual report - between August 2010 and July 2011 â€“ the CPT made 14 visits to examine the treatment of persons held in a broad range of institutions throughout Europe. The Committee members had visited Azerbaijan for 5 times and made 5 reports.

At present the Committee is chaired by Chief of the Azerbaijani Parliamentâ€™s Department for Legislation on State Building Latif Huseynov.