CAT/C/VNM/CO/1
(b)
Ensure that investigations are systematically carried out, that
perpetrators are prosecuted and convicted in accordance with the gravity of their acts,
in keeping with article 4 of the Convention, and that victims are afforded appropriate
redress;
(c)
Establish an independent mechanism to exercise oversight over the
police and other relevant authorities so that there is no institutional or hierarchical
connection between the investigators and the alleged perpetrators, and ensure that all
persons under investigation for having committed acts of torture or ill-treatment are
immediately suspended from their duties and remain so throughout the investigation,
while ensuring that the principle of the presumption of innocence is observed;
(d)
Prosecute and punish medical doctors who participate in the physical
abuse of detained persons or who deny medical care to detained persons;
(e)
Ensure that medical doctors receive mandatory training on the
Principles of Medical Ethics relevant to the role of health personnel, particularly
physicians, in the protection of prisoners and detainees against torture and other cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;
(f)
Establish a database on the number of investigations, prosecutions,
convictions, sanctions and compensation granted to victims of torture and members of
their families, and report those figures to the Committee in its next report.
Fundamental legal safeguards
16.
While noting that the amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code have resulted in
improvements regarding the rights of persons deprived of their liberty, such as the
introduction of the principle of the presumption of innocence and the rights to remain silent,
to have access to legal counsel and to present evidence independently from the Government,
the Committee is concerned at reports that detained persons do not enjoy all fundamental
legal safeguards in practice. This includes the rights of detained persons to be informed of
the reasons for the arrest or detention; to contact family members or other persons of their
choice about their detention; to request and receive a medical examination by an
independent doctor; to have prompt access to legal counsel or legal aid; and to have the
detention recorded in a register. In that context, the Committee is gravely concerned that
persons accused of offences relating to national security are not afforded in practice legal
safeguards, such as the right to legal counsel and to contact their families, which amounts to
incommunicado detention (art. 2).
17.
The State party should:
(a)
Guarantee that all detained persons are afforded, in law and in practice,
all fundamental legal safeguards from the very outset of their deprivation of liberty,
including the right to be informed immediately of the charges against them, to have
prompt access to a lawyer or to free legal aid during all proceedings, to notify a
relative or another person of their choice about their detention or arrest, to request
and receive a medical examination from an independent doctor, including by a doctor
of their choice upon request, and to have their deprivation of liberty recorded in
registers at all stages;
(b)
Establish a central detention register for all persons at all stages of their
deprivation of liberty, including transfers to different facilities, and inform the
Committee of the type of information recorded and the specific measures taken to
ensure accurate record-keeping, as an important safeguard against incommunicado
detention and enforced disappearance;
(c)
Monitor the compliance by all public officials with the fundamental legal
safeguards for detained persons and investigate, prosecute and penalize any failure on
the part of officials to comply with those safeguards;
(d)
Provide information on the number of complaints received regarding
failure to respect fundamental legal safeguards and on the outcome of such complaints
since the entry into force of the amended Criminal Procedure Code.
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