Guidebook
MONITORING PLACES OF DETENTION
Table: EU legislation
Relevant right
Aspects to be recorded
Right to information
(Art 8)
• If the person was informed about his/her rights
• If the person was given the Letter of Rights on arrest/in Arrest
Warrant proceedings
• If the person was given information about the accusation
Right to interpretation and
translation
(Art 7)
• If they are provided with interpretation, without delay, before
investigative and judicial authorities, including during police
questioning, all court hearings and any necessary interim hearings
• If an oral translation or oral summary of essential documents has been
provided
• If the person has waived the right to translation
Right of access to a lawyer
(Arts 3(3)(b), 8(2), 9(2),
10(2)(c))
• If the lawyer has participated in questionings, or hearings in Arrest
Warrant proceedings
• If the right was temporarily derogated with a duly reasoned decision
• If the right was waived under what circumstances
Right to communicate
with a third person
(Art 8 (2))
• If the right was temporarily derogated with a duly reasoned decision
tion. The tape contained clear images of the detainee being physically
ill-treated by both uniformed and detective officers. The recorded material was based on at least three separate viewings of the video footage in
question (manually adjusted to real time) by three different members of
the CPT's delegation. By manually synchronising the silent video footage
of interviews with the relevant audio tapes, the CPT's delegation was
able to ascertain that some detectives are indeed conducting unauthorised "off-tape" interviews of up to five minutes with detainees. 360
4.2.
Observing police interviewing
In addition to viewing or listening to recordings, another way for monitors
to verify that procedural rights are respected is by observing interrogations. Observing police interviewing may, however, interfere with the investigative process and some noted that this may fall outside the purpose
of the preventive monitoring.361 While no practice among national monitoring bodies (i.e. NHRIs/NPMs) was found in the course of the project,
the CPT has made use of such tool while conducting monitoring visits in
certain cases.
4.1.3. Audio-visual recordings
CPT
Where available, monitoring bodies should also monitor audio-visual recordings (see above, Chapter 1.4.6).
Poland
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For example, in its visit to Norway in 2018, the CPT delegation had inter
alia the opportunity to observe two police interviews of criminal suspects at Oslo Police Headquarters.362
During the visit the team viewed the footage from the video surveillance
which documented the use of direct coercion measures against the residents of the juvenile detention centre.359 The analysis indicated a number
of irregularities concerning the legality of their application, adequacy of
use and documentation.
An additional element that can be verified by the monitors is whether
there are adequate facilities to guarantee the confidentiality of lawyerclient consultation in the facility.
CPT
Hungary
During its visit United Kingdom/Northern Ireland in 2001, having received allegations about an incident in an interview room, the CPT delegation viewed the video tape which corresponded to the period in ques-
For example, after exchanging with the Hungarian Bar Association,
the Hungarian NPM identified communication between detainees and
their lawyers as a problematic issue. One case, for example, concerned a
4.3.
Checking the confidentiality of lawyer-client consultations
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