6. The situation of police ill-treatment in Europe in recent years, as documented by the
CPT, and the trends in the eradication of this practice vary greatly across the region.6
Some countries appear to have eradicated police ill-treatment a long time ago, and in
others, police reforms have led to a significant improvement of the situation. In yet other
countries, hardly anybody complains of ill-treatment during questioning, while excessive
use of force upon apprehension, excessively tight handcuffing or verbal abuse during
transport are still noted as a challenge.
7. In more than half of the CoE Member States, the CPT has in the recent past heard allegations and found forensic medical and other evidence of both excessive use of force upon
apprehension, and of various forms of ill-treatment - reaching from threats to mainly
beatings to various parts of the body - that were applied at police premises and in the
course of questioning for the purpose of obtaining a confession or information. In some
cases, the ill-treatment alleged was of such severity that it could be qualified as torture.7
8. It is noteworthy that in several countries ill-treatment for the purpose of obtaining a
confession or information is primarily applied in the initial period of police custody,
prior to the first official interviews, and often by operational police officers rather than
criminal investigators. Another important observation is that ill-treatment by police
officers exclusively carrying out custodial duties is almost non-existent, where distinct
police detention facilities exist or a system of dedicated custodial officers is in place.
9. The intention behind this brief overview is to highlight that there is still a relatively
large proportion of countries in Europe that face various problems in overcoming
police ill-treatment and in some countries, the situation has even deteriorated over the
years. In conclusion, an inter-State discussion about achievements, challenges and good
practices in combating police torture and ill-treatment in Europe is highly relevant.
Creating an environment for professional policing
10. International human rights conventions do not only prohibit torture and other inhuman
or degrading treatment or punishment in absolute terms; they also oblige States to take
positive measures to prevent torture and ill-treatment from occurring.8 Other
international and European standards, such as those adopted by the United Nations
5 Police
questioning in this context refers to both formal interviews (or interrogations) of suspects and “informal
questioning/interviews” with the aim of gathering information outside the formal investigation.
6 For this analysis, published CPT reports, mainly from 2011 onwards, have been taken into account.
7 Methods identified by the CPT include extensive beatings with hard objects such as a wooden bat, truncheon
blows on the soles of the feet (i.e. the so-called falaka), handcuffing of detained persons in stress positions for
hours on end and suspension / hyperextension by handcuffs, the infliction of electric shocks using electrical
discharge weapons, mock executions with a pistol pointed at the temple or with the barrel of a pistol inserted
into the mouth, old car tyres placed around the heads and shoulders while being forced to squat, burning a
person’s arm with a cigarette, infliction of burns to the genitals, asphyxiation with a plastic bag or a gas mask, or
placing a plastic bag over the head and spraying teargas inside, as well as combinations of the various methods
mentioned above.
8 Cf. in particular Article 2 (1) of the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment (CAT), which states that, “Each State Party shall take effective legislative,
administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction”, as
well as Article 11 CAT, stating that, “Each State Party shall keep under systematic review interrogation rules,
instructions, methods and practices as well as arrangements for the custody and treatment of persons subjected
to any form of arrest, detention or imprisonment in any territory under its jurisdiction, with a view to
preventing any cases of torture”. Article 16 CAT extends the obligation to prevent also to other forms of cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Note that all CoE Member States have ratified CAT.
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