CAT/OP/DEU/1/Add.1
11.
With reference to the recommendation of the SPT contained in paragraph 52 of the
SPT visit report (CAT/OP/DEU/1), the SPT delegation’s initially confidential concluding
report of 29 July 2013 was sent out to those participating in discussions at the Federal
Ministry of Justice at the beginning of August last year, to start with in English.
12.
Since Germany as a State Party strictly adheres to the principle of maintaining
constructive and trusting dialogue with the various treaty bodies of the United Nations and
commissions at the Council of Europe level, Germany followed the SPT’s recommendation
to publish and widely disseminate the report.
13.
A German translation was commissioned and completed in order to facilitate this.
Furthermore, it was agreed via official channels with the SPT that the report could be
published.
14.
By note verbale of 13 December 2013, a letter was sent to the SPT requesting the
Subcommittee’s permission for publication of the Report. At the same time, Germany’s
consent to publication by the SPT was also provided in order to enable the report to be
released, inter alia, on the website of the United Nations. The Chair of the SPT granted
permission for publication by letter of 16 December 2013.
15.
On 15 January 2014, after the final version of the English original was published on
the SPT’s website, both language versions of the SPT Report were sent forthwith to the
responsible authorities, alongside the request that these be further disseminated. At the
same time they were published on the website of the Federal Ministry of Justice and
Consumer Protection. The Report can be viewed in English and German under the
following link: http://www.bmj.de/DE/Ministerium/OeffentlichesRecht/Menschenrechte
/VereinteNationen/_doc/Vertragsorgane_doc.html?nn=1695012.
16.
The Conference of German Justice Ministers received the report on 20 January
2014.
17.
With reference to the recommendation of the SPT contained in paragraph 30 of the
SPT visit report (CAT/OP/DEU/1), in 2008 the Federal Ministry of Justice set up the
Federal Agency for the Prevention of Torture as part of the national preventive mechanism
pursuant to the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture. Initially the
Agency was to be headed on an honorary basis by one person only.
18.
In order to reduce the workload of the Head of the Federal Agency – former senior
civil servant Klaus Lange-Lehngut (Leitender Regierungsdirektor, ret.) – and, in particular,
to provide cover for Mr. Lange-Lehngut if he is temporarily unable to perform his duties,
the Federal Ministry of Justice has now amended the organisational decree on the Federal
Agency in agreement with the Federal Ministry of the Interior and the Federal Ministry of
Defence in order to provide for the appointment of an honorary deputy. The amendment of
this decree was promulgated on 5 June 2013 in the Federal Gazette (see annex 1).
19.
The position of Deputy Head of the Federal Agency for the Prevention of Torture is
now held by former senior civil servant and former director of Tegel Prison, Ralph-Günther
Adam (Leitender Sozialdirektor, ret.). Mr. Adam was appointed by State Secretary
Dr. Grundmann by letter of 10 June 2013. His appointment is another step forward for the
Federal Agency.
20.
With reference to the recommendation of the SPT contained in paragraph 42 of the
SPT visit report (CAT/OP/DEU/1), on 15 May 2013, the Head of the Federal Agency,
former senior civil servant Klaus Lange-Lehngut (Leitender Regierungsdirektor, ret.),
presented Dr. Birgit Grundmann, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Justice, with the
National Agency’s 2012 Annual Report in Berlin. To mark the occasion, the Federal
Ministry of Justice published a press release, which, apart from expressing the State
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