A/HRC/10/44/Add.3
page 2
Summary
The Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment, Manfred Nowak, and the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes
and consequences, Yakin Ertürk, undertook a joint visit to the Republic of Moldova, including
the Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova, from 4 to 11 July 2008.
The Special Rapporteur expresses his appreciation to the Government for its excellent
cooperation. He notes the Government’s commitment to uphold and promote human rights and,
hence, the progress made since independence in 1991. He also warmly welcomes the initiatives
under way to prevent torture, in particular the creation of a national preventive mechanism under
the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment.
On the basis of discussions with public officials, judges, lawyers and representatives of
civil society, interviews with victims of violence and with persons deprived of their liberty, often
supported by forensic medical evidence, the Special Rapporteur concludes that ill-treatment
during the initial period of police custody is widespread. He also received serious allegations of
torture in some police stations. A number of cases of ill-treatment were reported to the Special
Rapporteur in institutions under the Ministry of Justice, mainly in terms of inter-prisoner
violence. While recently some torture cases have reached the courts, the Special Rapporteur
found that, overall, most complaints mechanisms are ineffective.
Conditions in police cells do not conform to international standards and are not suited to
holding people for long periods. Detention in such conditions for up to several months, as
practised in the Republic of Moldova, amounts to inhuman treatment. The conditions of
detention in institutions under the Ministry of Justice vary. Some institutions, in particular the
pretrial facility in Chişinău, were severely overcrowded. Others located outside the capital had
an acceptable amount of space for each prisoner. However, the Special Rapporteur was
concerned about the standard use of quarantine cells for newly arrived detainees, most of which
were not in line with international standards. Furthermore, the Special Rapporteur received
numerous complaints about the restricted access to medical care and the poor quality of food.
With regard to the State’s legal framework, the Special Rapporteur welcomes the fact that
torture has been criminalized and that safeguards are, by and large, provided for by the
legislation. In order for the safeguards to be effective, however, the various players in the
criminal law cycle must live up to their responsibilities and denounce cases of torture.
In the light of the above, the Special Rapporteur recommends that the Government of the
Republic of Moldova implement fully its obligations under international human rights law. In
particular, he urges the Government to equip the recently created national preventive mechanism
with the necessary human and other resources and to view it as an aid in the collective effort to
discover what really happens in places where persons are deprived of their liberty. He also
recommends that the penitentiary system be conceived in a way that truly aims at the
rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders. Accessible and confidential complaints
mechanisms, effective and independent criminal investigation and prosecution mechanisms
against alleged perpetrators of torture should be established. Other recommended steps include
reducing the time limits for police custody to 48 hours, strengthening safeguards to make them