CAT/C/TUN/CO/3
(d)
Organic Act No. 2013-43 of October 2013 establishing the National
Authority for the Prevention of Torture;
(e)
Act No. 2009-68 of 2009 on punitive damages and on the modernization of
alternatives to prison sentences.
6.
The Committee also welcomes other steps taken by the State party to give effect to
the Convention, including:
(a)
The opening in 2014 of the first rehabilitation centre for victims of torture;
(b)
The attention paid to the prison system through the adoption in 2015 of an
action plan for the reform of judicial and prison facilities and the adoption in 2016 of an
action plan against overcrowding;
(c)
The signing in 2011 of an agreement with the Office of the United Nations
High Commissioner for Human Rights to open an office in Tunisia and the adoption in
December 2012 of a memorandum of understanding with several national human rights
organizations on prison visits, and the adoption in December 2014 of a protocol on medical
care for prisoners on hunger strike, with the assistance of the International Committee of
the Red Cross;
(d)
violence;
The adoption in 2008 and 2012 of a national strategy on the prevention of
(e)
The establishment in 2014 of an extended multisectoral committee within the
Ministry of Justice to amend the provisions of the Criminal Code and to bring it into line
with the Convention.
C.
Principal subjects of concern and recommendations
Definition of torture
7.
While welcoming the recognition in 1999 of torture as a crime in the Criminal Code,
the Committee is concerned that the definition of torture contained in article 101 bis of the
Code, as amended in 2011, is still not in conformity with the definition set out in article 1
of the Convention, as it does not refer to “punishment” as one of the prohibited purposes of
torture and limits “discrimination” to “racial discrimination”. The Committee is also
concerned that article 101 quater provides for the exemption from punishment of public
servants or their equivalents who denounce acts of torture “in good faith”, which opens the
door to impunity (arts. 1 and 4).
8.
The Committee requests the State party to expedite the ongoing legislative
reform process and to take the necessary steps to amend article 101 bis of its Criminal
Code so as to bring it strictly into line with the definition of torture contained in
article 1 of the Convention. To ensure that any act committed by a public official or
similar person constituting participation in an act of torture does not go unpunished,
the State party should also amend article 101 quater of its Criminal Code so as to
remove the exemptions aimed at encouraging reporting of the crime of torture.
Fundamental legal safeguards
9.
While the Committee welcomes the adoption of Act No. 2016-5 (due to enter into
force on 1 June 2016), which provides for the reduction of the legal duration of police
custody to 48 hours in criminal cases, renewable once by reasoned decision of the public
prosecutor, and which provides for detainees to have access to a lawyer from the very
beginning of their stay in custody as well as during questioning, the Committee remains
concerned about the new law’s lack of clarity as regards the moment that marks the
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