CAT/C/MNG/CO/1
bodies should be allowed to carry out regular and unannounced visits to places
of detention.
Redress and compensation
17.
The Committee is concerned that there is no effective and adequate means for
victims of torture and ill-treatment to obtain justice, compensation and rehabilitation. The
Committee is also concerned that provisions for compensation in Mongolian law do not
specify torture as a basis for compensation. This was also noted by the Special Rapporteur
on the question of torture after his visit to Mongolia (art. 14).
The State party should ensure that victims of torture can obtain redress and
have an enforceable right to fair and adequate compensation, and should enact
comprehensive legislation which includes torture and ill-treatment as a basis
for compensation and reparation.
Statements made under torture
18.
The Committee is seriously concerned that statements and confessions obtained
under torture and ill-treatment continue to be used in courts in Mongolia, which is also
referred to by the Special Rapporteur on the question of torture. He stated that the criminal
justice system relies heavily on obtaining confessions for instituting prosecutions and that
this “makes the risk of torture and ill-treatment very real” (E/CN.4/2006/6/Add.4, para. 36).
In this respect, the Committee is also concerned at reports that persons arrested in
connection with the 1 July 2008 events were interrogated under torture, and that
confessions signed under such circumstances were later used as evidence in court (art. 15).
The State party should ensure that no statement which is established to have
been made as a result of torture shall be invoked as evidence in any
proceedings. The State party should introduce systematic video and audio
monitoring and recording of all interrogations, in all places where torture and
ill-treatment are likely to occur, and provide the necessary financial, material
and human resources to that end. The State party should ensure that any
statement or confessions made by persons in custody ascertained to have been
made as a result of torture or ill-treatment should not be admissible as evidence
against the person who made the confession. Such statements and confessions
should be invoked only as evidence in proceedings against the person accused of
torture or ill-treatment.
Prisoners on death row and the death penalty
19.
The Committee is concerned that information on the death penalty is classified as a
State secret and that not even the families of executed persons are informed about the date
of execution or given their mortal remains. The Committee is also concerned about the fate
and conditions of detention of 44 prisoners remaining on death row (arts. 2, 11 and 16).
The State party should render public statistics relating to the death penalty,
provide the Committee with information on the 44 persons remaining on death
row, should consider commuting all death sentences and should provide
relevant information to the families of persons who were executed. The State
party should declassify information on the death penalty, and is encouraged to
continue its efforts towards its abolition, including by ratifying the Second
Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The State party should ensure that death row prisoners are treated in
accordance with international standards.
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