A/HRC/40/59/Add.1
16.
As a consequence, routine medical examinations do not meet the requirements of
adequate and reliable forensic examinations and the resulting medical reports fall short of
internationally recognized standards as reflected in the Manual on the Effective
Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment (the Istanbul Protocol).
17.
In order to address this shortcoming, systematic training programmes on the Istanbul
Protocol should be implemented for all health professionals who may be called to examine
persons deprived of their liberty, as well as lawyers, prosecutors and judges who may be
involved in relevant judicial cases, so as to strengthen their understanding of the potential
and limitations of medical examinations in the identification and documentation of torture
and other forms of ill-treatment.
B.
Allegations of torture and ill-treatment
18.
The Special Rapporteur welcomes the commitment shown by all officials of the
judicial and executive branches of the State to the absolute and non-derogable prohibition
of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
19.
The Special Rapporteur is also pleased to report that, as far as penitentiaries and
remand prisons under the authority of the Ministry of Justice are concerned, he did not
receive any complaints of ill-treatment except for a few isolated allegations of excessive
use of force in disciplinary situations.
20.
The Special Rapporteur notes with grave concern, however, that he received
numerous and consistent allegations of torture and ill-treatment at the hands of the police,
most notably as a means of coercing confessions out of individuals during interrogation in
police custody. Detainees reported being slapped and beaten with fists and truncheons,
kicked and threatened with firearms.
21.
In the same context, the Special Rapporteur’s team also received several allegations
of detainees having been forced to sign confessions which they had been unable to read,
sometimes not only for the crime they had been arrested for, but for several additional
offences that had remained unresolved, but to which they reportedly had no connection
whatsoever. Based on the confessions, they alleged they had been offered plea bargains
which would allow them to avoid deprivation of liberty through the confirmation of their
confession and payment of a monetary fine.
22.
According to the allegations received, when detainees reported such ill-treatment
and the resulting injuries to a judge or prosecutor, the police would generally argue that
they had acted in self-defence and be given the benefit of the doubt without any forensic
examination, thus leaving victims of abuse without effective remedy.
23.
Based on interviews conducted with health professionals at penitentiaries and
remand prisons, and based on his own analysis of individual medical records, the forensic
expert accompanying the mission of the Special Rapporteur was able to confirm trauma
injuries consistent with the allegations received that were unlikely to have occurred in
situations of self-defence. Having collected and evaluated these elements to the best of his
ability and judgment, the Special Rapporteur must therefore conclude that there are credible
indications of frequent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment occurring in police custody in Serbia, in conjunction with the absence of
effective independent oversight and with insufficient expertise on the part of medical
personnel in the investigation, interpretation and documentation of the signs of torture and
ill-treatment.
24.
In order to correct this alarming situation and prevent impunity for any and all forms
of ill-treatment on the part of the police, the Special Rapporteur urges the Serbian
authorities to ensure that there are fully independent, expedient and effective complaints,
oversight and investigative mechanisms, and that systematic medical examinations by
independent medical personnel trained in the effective investigation, interpretation and
documentation of the signs of torture and ill-treatment are assured.
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