Kosovo/Kosova As Seen, As Told Access to medical assistance Access to medical care is an important element of redress for victims of torture and ill-treatment. In addition to prolonging the victim's suffering, the denial of such assistance reinforces impunity as it almost guarantees that no criminal investigations or other judicial proceedings with view to compensation will ever go ahead. The responsibility of medical personnel in this respect cannot be underestimated. Under international human rights standards, it is a contravention of medical ethics for health personnel to engage in acts which constitute participation in or complicity in torture or illtreatment or to participate in the certification of the fitness of detainees for any treatment or punishment that may contravene international standards. 25 Some of us were then brought to Lipljan prison, where we were registered. At the entrance 20 guards were lined up. Everybody had to pass them and was beaten up. Some Kosovo Albanian men fainted because they had been so badly injured in the police station. Over the next three days everybody was beaten up. After three weeks the guards invited the Serb prisoners and the cooks to beat them up. The request for a doctor was refused, with the retort, "Terrorists don't need doctors". [Some days later] only one doctor eventually appeared but he didn't want to know about the injuries of the detainees. He only measured blood pressure. 26 Accountability, redress and compensation vs. impunity Under international law victims of torture and ill-treatment have an enforceable right to reparation, including compensation. Redress for victims should also include measures to bring the perpetrator to justice, as well as the enforcement of safeguards to prevent the recurrence of torture or ill-treatment. These safeguards include maintaining stricter judicial controls over detention procedures and ensuring lawyers and doctors have prompt access to detainees. During the OSCE-KVM's presence in Kosovo, reports of ill-treatment and torture were frequently the subject of consultations with Serbian authorities, regular local police commanders, and members of the judiciary, such as presidents of district courts and public prosecutors. Generally, the OSCE-KVM was given assurances that all cases of torture and ill-treatment would be followed up and have the legally prescribed disciplinary and judicial consequences for the individual officer responsible. Such action on behalf of the competent state organs would, however, only be possible if concrete allegations were made including the name of the officer and the time and location of the alleged offence. When the OSCEKVM confronted the Chief Prosecutor of Pec and the President of the District Court of Pec with the question as to whether allegations of torture and ill-treatment by police would be actively investigated 27 and prosecuted, the Prosecutor affirmed this, but said that he had never heard of such a case. Concrete action was rendered difficult for several reasons: first, Kosovo Albanians, or other citizens for that matter, who had become victims of torture or ill-treatment by the police, did not trust the state institutions to protect their rights and interests in pursuing legal redress and eventually receiving http://www.osce.org/kosovo/documents/reports/hr/part1/ch6.htm (9 of 12)12/5/2003 11:51:07 AM