2014-2015 REPORT ON NATIONAL PREVENTION OF TORTURE
Powers of the national preventive mechanism
The Seimas Ombudsmen are assisted by employees
of the Seimas Ombudsmen’s Office in organising
and performing activities of the national prevention
of torture assigned to them. The employees of the
Office regularly visit and inspect places of detention seeking to identify any indications of torture
or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment
or other human rights violations; they supervise
the implementation of the Seimas Ombudsmen’s
recommendations in the area of national prevention
of torture and perform other functions assigned.
When implementing the national prevention
of torture, the Seimas Ombudsmen enjoy extensive powers, namely they have the right to
choose which places of detention to visit and
which persons to interview, to enter all places
of detention and their premises and to have
access to their installations and facilities. The
Seimas Ombudsmen also have the right to have
private interviews with the persons deprived of
their liberty without witnesses, as well as with
any other persons who may supply relevant
information, and to conduct inspections of
places of detention together with selected
experts. Inspections are organised to any place
where persons are or may be deprived of their
liberty, i.e. police custody facilities, imprisonment, care and mental institutions, institutions
for treatment of infectious diseases, institutions
for holding or accommodating foreigners and
other institutions.
Currently the Human Rights Division is composed
of 4 employees (all of them are lawyers) who
regularly visit and inspect places of detention
and supervise the implementation of recommendations submitted after visits. Occasionally,
the Ombudsmen also take part in preventive
visits, and they are responsible for controlling the
activities of the Human Rights Division.
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