2. Direct contact electric shock weapons A wide range of direct contact electric shock weapons (including electric shock batons, shields and stun guns) have been developed, traded and are now employed by law enforcement officials throughout the world. The high voltage electric shock from these weapons is applied directly by hand, as the weapon is pressed against an individual, causing intense pain and often incapacitating them. In addition, a growing number of police forces also use projectile electric shock weapons which fire darts attached to wires which when attached to the target deliver an electric shock from a distance. Such weapons can also be switched to “drive stun” mode allowing them to be used as direct contact electric shock weapons. 2.1. Torture & Ill-treatment utilising direct contact electric shock weapons The employment of direct contact electric shock weapons by law enforcement personnel carries an unacceptable risk of arbitrary force due to the intrinsic nature and design of such weapons that could amount to torture and other ill-treatment. If and when they are employed, the officers applying such shocks would usually not know if the victim has an underlying medical condition. Nor can officers reasonably ascertain the degree of pain or incapacitation they inflict with such a weapon since that pain can vary significantly from person to person depending on a range of physical and psychological factors, as well as different environmental factors such as the presence of moisture. Furthermore, it is evidently easy for a law enforcement officer to use a direct contact electrical weapon to apply extremely painful shocks at the touch of a button, including to very sensitive parts of the body, such as the neck, throat, ears, underarms, groin and genitals, without long-lasting identifiable physical traces. Moreover, such weapons can be used to inflict repeated or prolonged shocks on an individual. The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) has expressed “strong reservations” about the use of electric shock equipment in contact mode, noting that “properly trained law enforcement officials will have many other control techniques available to them when they are in touching distance of a person who has to be brought under control”.14 The CPT raised concerns about the arming of custodial staff with electric shock weapons in CoE States and recommended that “immediate steps be taken to put a stop to custodial staff in police arrest houses routinely carrying electro-shock weapons”.15 From 2012-2017, the alleged use of direct contact electric shock weapons by law enforcement personnel or prison officers in torture or ill-treatment has been documented within the CoE, by the CPT, Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch, notably in 14 European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), CPT Standards, “Substantive” sections of the CPT’s General Reports, CPT/Inf/E (2002) 1 - Rev. 2015, p. 111. 15 See for example: CPT, Report to the Lithuanian Government on the visit to Lithuania carried out by the CPT from 27 November to 4 December 2012, 4 June 2014. 12