CAT/C/CHN/CO/4
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As part of this, the State party should implement effective measures promptly to
ensure that all detained suspects are afforded, in practice, all fundamental legal
safeguards during their detention. These include, in particular, the right to have
access to a lawyer and an independent medical examination, to notify a relative, and
to be informed of their rights at the time of detention, including about the charges
laid against them, as well as to appear before a judge within a time limit in
accordance with international standards. The State party should also ensure that all
suspects under criminal investigation are registered.
The State party should take the measures necessary to ensure that, both in legislation
and in practice, statements that have been made under torture are not invoked as
evidence in any proceedings, except against a person accused of torture, in
accordance with the provisions of the Convention. The State party should review all
cases in which persons were convicted on the basis of coerced confessions with a view
to releasing those who were wrongly convicted.
The State party should establish consistent and comprehensive standards for
independent monitoring mechanisms of all places of detention, ensuring that any
body established, at the local or the national level, has a strong and impartial
mandate and adequate resources.
Conditions of detention and deaths in custody
12.
While the Committee takes note of the information from the State party on conditions of
detention in prisons, it remains concerned about reports of abuses in custody, including the high
number of deaths, possibly related to torture or ill-treatment, and about the lack of investigation
into these abuses and deaths in custody. While the Committee notes that the Special Rapporteur
on the question of torture has found the availability of medical care in the detention facilities he
visited to be generally satisfactory (E/CN.4/2006/6/Add.6, para. 77), it also notes with concern
new information provided about inter alia the lack of treatment for drug users and people living
with HIV/AIDS and regrets the lack of statistical data on the health of detainees (art. 11).
The State party should take effective measures to keep under systematic review all
places of detention, including existing and available health services. Furthermore,
the State party should take prompt measures to ensure that all instances of deaths
in custody are independently investigated and that those responsible for such deaths
resulting from torture, ill-treatment or wilful negligence are prosecuted. The
Committee would appreciate a report on the outcome of such investigations, where
completed, and about what penalties and remedies were provided.
Administrative detention, including “re-education through labour”
13.
The Committee reiterates its previous recommendation to the State party to consider
abolishing all forms of administration detention (A/55/44, para.127). The Committee remains
concerned at the extended use of all forms of administrative detention, including “re-education
through labour”, for individuals who have never had their case tried in court, nor the possibility
of challenging their administrative detention. It is also concerned with the failure to investigate
allegations of torture and other ill-treatment in “re-education through labour” (RTL) facilities, in