CAT/C/BLR/CO/4
(a)
Revision of the Criminal Code, Penal Enforcement Code and Code of
Criminal Procedure, which entered into force on 1 January 2001;
(b)
Adoption of the Detention Procedures and Conditions Act in 2003; and
(c)
Adoption of the new Law on Provision of Refugee Status, Complementary
and Temporary Protection to Foreign Citizens and Stateless Persons, in 2008.
C.
Principal subjects of concern and recommendations
Fundamental legal safeguards
6.
The Committee is seriously concerned about numerous, consistent reports that
detainees are frequently denied basic fundamental legal safeguards, including prompt
access to a lawyer and medical doctor and the right to contact family members, and this
pertains especially to those detainees charged under article 293 of the Criminal Code. Such
reports include cases raised jointly by several special procedure mandate holders, including
the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment, and pertaining to, inter alia, Andrei Sannikov who made an allegation during
trial in May 2011 about the denial of his rights to prompt access to lawyer, to contact
family and to medical treatment despite injuries caused by the authorities during arrest, and
Vladimir Neklyaev (A/HRC/17/27/Add.1, para. 249). While noting the Act No.215-Z of 16
June 2003 on detention procedure and conditions, the Committee expresses its serious
concern at the State party’s failure in practice to afford all persons deprived of their liberty,
including detainees held in pretrial detention facilities of the State Security Committee
(KGB) and under administrative detention, with all fundamental legal safeguards, as
referred to in paragraphs 13 and 14 of the Committee’s general comment No. 2 (2008) on
implementation of article 2 by States parties, from the very outset of detention (arts. 2, 11
and 12).
The Committee recommends the State party to:
(a)
Ensure that all detainees are afforded, by law and in practice, all
fundamental legal safeguards from the very outset of their detention, including the
rights to prompt access to a lawyer and a medical examination by an independent
doctor, to contact family members, to be informed of their rights at the time of
detention, including about the charges laid against them, and to appear before a judge
promptly;
(b)
Guarantee the access of detained persons, including those under
administrative detention, to challenging the legality of their detention or treatment;
and
(c)
Take measures to ensure audiotaping or videotaping of all interrogations
in police stations and detention facilities as a further means to prevent torture and illtreatment.
7.
The Committee is concerned at the limited access to the central registry of detainees
by family members and lawyers of detainees. It further regrets the lack of proper
registration of detainees (arts. 2, 11 and 12).
The Committee recommends the State party to ensure prompt registration of all
persons deprived of their liberty following apprehension and access to the register by
lawyers and relatives of those detained.
8.
The Committee is concerned by numerous allegations that officers in plain clothes
carry out arrests, making identification impossible when complaints of torture or illtreatment were presented. The Committee notes with concern reports that a number of
presidential candidates were arrested and detained by men in plain clothing
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