A/HRC/19/61/Add.2
(d)
Expedite a prompt, impartial and thorough investigation into all
allegations of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and
undertake public prosecutions without delay where the evidence warrants them;
unless the allegation is manifestly unfounded, those involved should be suspended
from their duties during the investigation and proceedings;
(e)
Increase the number of qualified health personnel in temporary and
pretrial detention facilities and ensure that medical staff in places of detention are
independent by transferring them from the State Service for the Execution of
Punishments and the Ministry of the Interior to the Ministry of Health; and provide
forensic medical services with training in the medical investigation of torture and
other forms of ill-treatment;
(f)
Recall that evidentiary rules – and their incorrect interpretation -should not reward police and investigator misconduct; the exclusion of evidence at
trial is one effective means to combat misconduct and abuses in the course of a
criminal investigation;
(g)
Ensure that defence lawyers are given procedural opportunities to
collect evidence independently of investigators through, inter alia, the deposition of
witnesses and experts directly before a judge;
(h)
Shift the burden of proof to prosecution to prove beyond reasonable
doubt that a confession or other evidence has not been obtained under any kind of
duress, and consider filming and audiotaping interrogations;
(i)
Encourage judges and prosecutors to routinely ask persons arriving
from police custody how they have been treated and to order an independent medical
examination if they suspect that the detainee has been subjected to ill-treatment; an ex
officio investigation should be initiated whenever there are reasonable grounds to
believe that a confession has been obtained through the use of torture and illtreatment; these cases tried under article 305-1 of the Criminal Code are prosecutable
ex officio and should not be subject to termination upon the victim’s request;
(j)
Improve the effectiveness of existing alternatives to pretrial detention
and consider the introduction of new alternatives by encouraging the use of noncustodial measures such as bail, reporting to a police station, radio-monitored
bracelets and house arrest;
(k)
Establish clearly set out enforcement mechanisms to provide victims
with effective remedy and redress, including compensation and as full rehabilitation
as possible by allocating funds in the national budget; and fulfil the right of the victim
to obtain redress through civil litigation regardless of whether the guilt of a public
agent has been determined by a court on a criminal case;
(l)
Establish an effective national preventive mechanism in accordance with
the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture, ensure budgetary allocations
and equip the mechanism with sufficient human and other resources to enable it to
inspect all places of detention regularly, to receive complaints, initiate prosecutions
and follow them through to their conclusions;
(m) Consider adopting a law to allow regular inspections of all places of
detention by an independent monitoring mechanism (in addition to the national
preventive mechanism); ensure that oversight mechanisms, inter alia, public advisory
councils, are able to conduct unimpeded and effective oversight of places of detention
and that their findings and recommendations are made public; and introduce
independent, effective and accessible complaint mechanisms to all places of detention
through the installation of telephone hotlines or confidential complaints boxes, and
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