may not be suspended or restricted save in exceptional circumstances, to be specified by
law or lawful regulations, when it is considered indispensable by a judicial or other
authority in order to maintain security and good order. 4. Interviews between a detained or
imprisoned person and his legal counsel may be within sight, but not within the hearing, of
a law enforcement official.
5. Communications between a detained or imprisoned person and his legal counsel
mentioned in the present principle shall be inadmissible as evidence against the detained or
imprisoned person unless they are connected with a continuing or contemplated crime.
Resolution of the United Nations General Assembly 43/173 of 9 December 1988:
Principle 19. A detained or imprisoned person shall have the right to be visited by and to
correspond with, in particular, members of his family and shall be given adequate
opportunity to communicate with the outside world, subject to reasonable conditions and
restrictions as specified by law or lawful regulations.
Standards of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture. Excerpts from
the CPT 7th General Report [CPT/Inf (97) 10] concerning the deprivation of
foreigners – illegal immigrants – of liberty:The right of access to a lawyer should apply
throughout the detention period and include both the right to speak with the lawyer in
private and to have him present during interviews with the authorities concerned. (…) More
generally, immigration detainees should be entitled to maintain contact with the outside
world during their detention, and in particular to have access to a telephone and to receive
visits from relatives and representatives of relevant organisations.
Act of 13 June 2003 on granting protection to foreigners on the territory of the
Republic of Poland (Dz.U. of 2003, No 139, item 1472, as amended), Article 89a.
The Act of 13 June 2003 on aliens (Dz.U. of 2006, No 234, item 1694) Article 117.
Annex to the Ordinance of the Minister of Interior and Administration of 26 August
2004 on the requirements to be met by the guarded centres and deportation centres for
foreigners and rules of organization and order of the foreigners' stay in the guarded
centres and deportation centres for foreigners (Dz.U. of 2004, No 190, item 1953),
entitled “Rules of organisation and order of the foreigners’ stay in the guarded centres
and deportation centres for foreigners - Chapter 6.
It results from the findings concerning the visited establishments, that in
principle, the right of foreigners to see close friends and relatives and to communicate
and receive packages has been executed.
Foreigners also had telephones located within visited establishments at their
disposal. Foreigners staying in the Guarded Centre in Krosno Odrzańskie could also
use cell phones that were normally stored in the deposit. They were issued upon the
detainee’s request, which was recorded in the event log.
Doubts arose as regards the provision of the Art. 20 of the House Rules of the
Guarded Centre in Krosno Odrzańskie which limited the right of a foreigner placed in
an isolation chamber to written communication. The Commander of the Nadodrzański
Border Guard Unit in Krosno Odrzańskie has not referred to this allegation.
As regards the course of telephone conversations, irregularities have been found
in the Deportation Centre in Lubań. Namely, during the entire phone conversation, the
officer was standing by the phone so that he could hear the conversation. It also needs
to be noticed that the fact that not only the personal data of a phoning person, but also
the personal data of an interlocutor were recorded in the Phone Calls Log and in the
case of outgoing calls, also the phone number selected by a detainee. In the opinion of
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