Rights behind bars: Access to justice for victims of violent crime suffered in pre-trial or immigration detention
•
A firewall should be established between the
administrative process related to the person’s immigration
status and access to justice. Equally, a complaint of
violence should not impact the ongoing criminal
investigation against a detainee.
•
Adopt clear policies on the obligation of Law
Enforcement Authorities to investigate and prosecute
allegations of violence by Detention Staff or codetainees.
•
•
Implement ECHR case law on burden of proof requiring
the Detention Administration to explain and justify the use
of force, rather than requiring the victim to prove that it
was unjustified.
Create special units within Law Enforcement
Authorities. Designate a public prosecutor, an
investigating judge and police unit in charge of criminality
in places of detention, including ill-treatment by Detention
Staff, to encourage a proactive role in investigations and
for lawyers/other stakeholders to have an identifiable
interlocutor for complaints and urgent communications. A
dedicated unit would minimise risk that other cases are
prioritised.
Monitoring bodies including NPMs
•
Adopt a protocol for the automatic referral of
individual allegations of violence to Law Enforcement
Authorities.
•
Increase communication between NPMs and Law
Enforcement Authorities. The findings of NPMs through
their monitoring activities can help support investigations
by Law Enforcement Authorities.
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