E/CN.4/2000/9/Add.3
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phenomenon in Romania and that, when committed, it is malpractice by a civil servant that can
be criminally sanctioned. He stressed that cases of torture and ill-treatment are isolated and are
never committed for political reasons, in contrast to the communist era.
8.
However, the President of the Commission on Human Rights of the Senate informed the
Special Rapporteur that her Commission has knowledge of many cases of torture or ill-treatment
committed by the police. She noted that ill-treatment primarily takes place in police lock-ups,
although there are also cases of abuse reported from the penitentiaries. Her harshest criticism
was directed toward the authorities who, according to her, are rarely able to provide any answers
or solutions when complaints are filed. She was particularly critical of the judiciary, stating that
it is almost impossible to solve these cases when the judicial system is involved. In her view,
judges in Romania consider themselves a privileged social class who believe that their
independence means that they answer only to the law and not to anyone else. She also lamented
the fact that there is little sympathy among the general public for criminal suspects or prisoners
because of the high crime rate in Romania.
9.
The high crime rate that currently prevails has also created extremely difficult conditions
for the police. The Procurator General acknowledged that there are some problems, but felt that
the human factor should be appreciated because of the conditions in which police must work. He
noted that most of the cases of abuse involve non-commissioned officers who are poorly paid.
He further noted that, while the police force is undergoing changes, many policemen were
trained under the prior, communist regime when the State was more likely to resort to repression.
Nevertheless, he maintained that tremendous improvements have been made and that cases of
abuse by the police are rare and isolated.
10.
Representatives of non-governmental organizations with whom the Special Rapporteur
met painted a different picture. According to these NGO representatives, torture and
ill-treatment during the early phases of arrest are common in all regions of the country. The
abuse normally takes the form of severe beatings, although there are cases where suspects are
hung suspended from a locker or other fixture; cigarette burns are also reported frequently. In
the vast majority of the cases, the beatings are used to extract a confession from the suspect.
Some of the NGO representatives also alleged that Roma suspects are particularly at risk of
torture or ill-treatment.
11.
As noted above, it is alleged that the early phases of detention are the period in which a
criminal suspect is most at risk of being subjected to torture or ill-treatment. Under the
Romanian Constitution, a suspect may be held for 24 hours in the absence of an arrest warrant.
During this 24-hour period, the police may hold a suspect in the police lock-up under a police
custody warrant; in these cases, the suspect must be registered in the lock-up records. However,
the Law on Police No. 26/1994 provides that persons who refuse to identify themselves, or
whose identity cannot be established, may be “led” to the police station for the purposes of
identification; this period cannot last longer than 24 hours. Non-governmental organizations
argue that this provision violates the Constitution by allowing a 24-plus-24-hour period. Police
officials whom the Special Rapporteur met stated that in practice the process of identification
takes at most a few hours and they denied that they hold individuals for up to 48 hours without
an arrest warrant being issued. The Secretary of State of the Ministry of the Interior noted that