CAT/C/TCD/CO/1
page 4
The State party should revise the Chadian Code of Criminal Procedure to include
fundamental legal guarantees for all suspects during detention, including, in
particular, the right of access to a lawyer, the right to be examined by an independent
physician, the right to contact a relative or friend and the right to be informed of
one’s rights from the moment of detention, including the right to be informed of the
charges and to be brought promptly before a judge. The State party should also
guarantee the full enjoyment of these rights in practice, and should ensure that the
limit on the period of custody is strictly applied, and that access to legal aid is
available for the poorest. In addition, the authorities should systematically and
regularly update detention registers, which should contain the name of every
detainee, the identity of the officials carrying out the detention, the date of the
detainee’s admission and departure, and all other information needed for such
registers.
Widespread use of torture and ill-treatment, especially during military operations
17.
The Committee is deeply concerned about:
(a) Persistent and consistent reports of torture and ill-treatment allegedly carried out by
the State party’s security forces and services, especially in district police stations, gendarmeries
and remand centres, and the apparent impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators of such acts;
(b) Allegations that the newly formed environmental protection brigades and the brigade
responsible for searching for weapons indulge in acts that contravene the Convention;
(c) The conclusions of the commission of inquiry into the events of February 2008, and
conclusions drawn from other sources, which report summary and extrajudicial executions,
rapes, kidnappings followed by enforced disappearance, torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment, arbitrary arrests, intimidation and harassment of political opponents, human rights
defenders and civilians. The Committee is particularly concerned about the fate of
Mr. Ibni Oumar Mahamat Saleh, a political opponent and former minister who was arrested on
3 February 2008 and who has since disappeared;
(d) Reports that torture and ill-treatment are commonly used on prisoners of war and
political opponents (arts. 2 and 12).
The State party should:
(a) Take immediate steps to guarantee in practice that all allegations of
torture and ill-treatment are the subject of a thorough, prompt and impartial
investigation and that the perpetrators of such acts are brought to trial and, if found
guilty, sentenced to penalties proportional to the seriousness of the acts committed;
(b) Investigate the involvement of government agents, members of the armed
forces and government security forces and allies of the Government in acts of torture,
rape, enforced disappearance and other abuses committed during the events of
February 2008;