Report on the Performance of Activities of the National Preventive Mechanism for 2015
order to guarantee that their basic human rights are respected, it is necessary to provide a
normative definition of how to act in these situations.
According to our recommendation, in June 2015 the Ministry of Justice drafted Guidelines for
Treatment of Hunger Strikers in Accordance with the Declaration of Malta, which only
remedied the shortcomings partially, because these Guidelines prescribe only the principles,
but not actual methods of treatment. Hence, there is still the need for the Ministry of Justice,
in cooperation with the Ministry of Health, to adopt a protocol in cases of hunger strikes.
Although the Guidelines prohibit any form of coercion and specifically indicate that in cases
where the prisoner refuses a medical examination the physician has to record the general
impression of the patient’s condition, there was one case where after the prisoner refused to
be weighed after declaring that he was on a hunger strike, he was subjected to a disciplinary
procedure for a serious disciplinary offence – refusal to obey a legitimate order by an
authorized official, for which the prisoner was pronounced the disciplinary measure of solitary
confinement for six days. We have pointed out to the head of the penal institution and to the
COPSD that such treatment is unacceptable, and based on the response we have received, they
will no longer subject prisoners who announce a hunger strike and refuse to be weighed to any
disciplinary measures.
3.2.
Visits to police stations and prison units
With the aim of strengthening the protection from torture and other cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment and in order to determine the method of treatment of persons deprived
of their liberty and the conditions for their stay in premises where they are detained or placed,
the NPM visited the premises of Police Administration of Požega-Slavonia County at three
locations, Police Administration of Osijek-Baranja County at nine locations, Police
Administration of Brod-Posavina County at six locations and Police Administration of
Dubrovnik-Neretva County at nine locations. During the visits we found no persons deprived of
their liberty but we did find that conditions of accommodation partly diverge from international
standards, which could represent degrading treatment and are contrary to the Standards of
Premises Where Persons Deprived of Their Freedom to Move Are Held (hereinafter: Standards).
Accommodation conditions
One’s stay at police stations is generally brief, but despite that the accommodation conditions
at those premises have to be compliant with prescribed standards. The detention facilities have
to have enough daylight and fresh air and the temperature has to be adjusted to climate
conditions. According to CPT standards, the premises have to be adequately sized and equipped
with necessary furniture, specifically a chair or a bench, and for night-time detention, there has
to be a bed with a clean mattress and bedding. Police stations generally have beds, mattresses
and bedding. For example, in the Traffic Police Station Slavonski Brod and in the 2nd Police
Station Osijek the rooms are adequately sized and in good order, in accordance with
international standards, while the detention rooms of Police Administration of Brod-Posavina
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