Visits made
5. During 2016, 59 short-term deprivation of liberty facilities were
visited: 23 of the National Police Force, 21 of the Civil Guard, 9 local police
stations, 2 autonomous police stations (Mossos de Esquadra in Tarragona
and Regional Police of Pamplona), 2 visits to courthouse jail facilities
(Madrid) and 2 visits to detention centres and centres for asylum seekers at
border controls (Barcelona and Madrid). Four of these visits involved the
participation of members of the Advisory Council and 3 involved the
participation of autonomous commissioners.
6. The average length of these deprivations of liberty is approximately 24
hours, except for those cases where a person has sought asylum or has
been exceptionally refused entrance into Spain. During these visits, particular
care is taken to ensure that the detainees at these facilities are adequately
treated in appropriate conditions.
Regulatory
changes
7. The 2015 Annual Report (§7) referred to the passing of various rules
affecting the procedural guarantees of detainees, as well as the conditions of
their arrest (Organic Act 13/2015, of 5 October, amending the Criminal
Procedure Act, to strengthen procedural guarantees and to regulate
technological research measures; Ministry of the Interior Order
INT/2573/2015 and Instructions 11/2015 y 12/2015 issued by the State
Secretary for Security, referring to the conditions in which these arrests are
completed).
These regulatory amendments, which gather a relevant number of
Recommendations and Suggestions made by the NPM, came into force
during the fourth quarter of last year, which is why their effective application
will be included in this Report.
Said Organic Act 13/2015, of 5 October, reformed Articles 118.1 and 520.2 of
Right to access the Criminal Procedure Act, amongst others, in compliance with Directive
the necessary
2012/13/EU, of the European Parliament, on the right of the detainee and
channels of
his lawyer to access the necessary channels of action in order to refute
action in order to the legality of the detention or deprivation of liberty, and to examine the
refute the
proceedings sufficiently in advance before making a statement. Said right has
legality of the
been acknowledged in different ways in both articles; police detentions are
detention
governed by the principle of Article 520.2, consequently only granting access
to basic components of the police report, without being entitled to examine
the proceedings, which would cover the entire police report and even a right
to obtain a copy of the necessary documentation.
The Safety & Justice Department of the Ombudsman is taking steps with the
Directorate-General of the Police and State Prosecution Service on these
39
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents