CAT/C/ROU/CO/2
The State party should take effective measures to guarantee that all detained persons
are afforded, in practice, all the fundamental legal safeguards from the outset of their
deprivation of liberty, in accordance with international standards, including:
(a)
The right of detainees to be informed about the charges against them
and about their rights, both orally and in writing, in a language that they understand;
(b)
The right of detainees to have prompt access to a lawyer from the very
outset of deprivation of liberty and, if necessary, to legal aid, including during the
initial interrogation;
(c)
The right of detainees to have immediate access to an independent
medical examination, free of charge;
(d)
The right of detainees to have a family member or another appropriate
person of their own choice notified of their detention.
The State party should establish a proper system of registration, with a single unified
national register of detention that includes factual details about the detention,
including the justification for the detention, and transfers, and should ensure that it
contains the exact date, time and place of detention from the outset of deprivation of
liberty.
Prolonged detention in police detention and arrest centres
8.
While noting the reduction in the number of pretrial detainees in 2014 owing to the
use of alternative measures, the Committee is concerned about the continued use of pretrial
and administrative detention during criminal prosecution in police detention and arrest
centres, which can be extended to up to 180 days. It is particularly concerned at the
continued and prolonged detention of sentenced prisoners in police detention centres. It is
also concerned at overcrowding and at the poor material conditions in police detention
facilities (arts. 2 and 11).
The State party should put an end to the practice of prolonged pretrial and
administrative detention in police detention and arrest centres and should ensure that
their use is clearly regulated and is subject to judicial supervision at all times, which
guarantees fundamental legal and procedural safeguards. The State party should
consider alternatives to incarceration, taking into account the provisions of the United
Nations Standard Minimum Rules for Non-custodial Measures (the Tokyo Rules). All
sentenced detainees held in police detention facilities should be promptly transferred
to prisons under the National Administration of Penitentiaries. The State party should
continue to renovate police detention centres with a view to bringing the conditions of
detention into line with international standards.
Excessive use of force by law enforcement officials and statements made as a result
of torture and ill-treatment
9.
The Committee is concerned at reports alleging cases of violence by law
enforcement officials, including against minors, at the time of arrest, detention and
interrogation, that has amounted to ill-treatment and torture, and is aimed among other
things at eliciting confessions, some of which has allegedly resulted in deaths. It is
particularly concerned about the treatment at the Ilfov Police Inspectorate of two persons
reported to the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or
Degrading Treatment or Punishment, corroborated by medical reports, which was of such
gravity as to amount to torture. The Committee is also concerned at the low number of
prosecutions and convictions in such cases. The Committee is further concerned at reports
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