134
368.
Likewise, States should adopt protocols and regulations requiring, among
other things, that:
(a)
registries should be established to record the date, time, place, duration
of interrogation, as well as identifying all authorities who took part in
them;
(b)
the person under interrogation or his attorneys should be provided
access to these registries; 440
(c)
persons legally detained do not remain under the supervision of the
interrogators or investigators beyond the statutory time limit so the
competent judicial authority may determine whether or not preventive
detention is warranted; 441
(d)
in the case of interrogations of women detainees, female security staff be
present; 442 and
(e)
periodic reviews be conducted of the rules, instructions, methods and
practices of interrogations, in order to detect and eradicate potential
practices which run counter to the right to human treatment and the fair
trial rights of detainees. 443
369.
With respect to the use of interrogations as a form of criminal
investigation, the IACHR concurs with the view put forth by the UN Rapporteur on Torture
that investigation techniques should include, among other things:
[T]he abilities to gather all available evidence in a case before
interviewing a suspect; plan an interview based on that evidence so that
an effective interview can be conducted; treat an interview as a means of
gather more information or evidence rather than as a means of securing
a confession; conduct an interview in a manner that respects the
suspects’ rights; analyze information obtained during the interview, and
440
Body of Principles for the Protection of all Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment
(Principle 23).
441
United Nations, Special Rapporteur on Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment, Third Report to the [former] Commission on Human Rights, E/CN.4/2004/56, adopted on December
23, 2003, para. 34.
442
United Nations, Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment, Report submitted to the (former) Commission on Human Rights, E/CN.4/1995/34, adopted on
January 12, 1995, para. 24. According to the experience of the Special Rapporteur on Torture of the UN,
interrogation and custody of females by male personnel constitute conditions that may be conducive to the
occurrence of rape and sexual abuse of female inmates, to be threatened with such acts or they feel fear of their
occurrence.
443
See in this regard, Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Being Subject to Torture and
Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Article 6).
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