CAT/C/57/D/598/2014
United Nations
Convention against Torture
and Other Cruel, Inhuman
or Degrading Treatment
or Punishment
Distr.: General
13 June 2016
Original: English
Committee against Torture
Communication No. 598/2014
Decision adopted by the Committee at its fifty-seventh session
(18 April-13 May 2016)
Submitted by:
B.R. (represented by counsel, Mara Biaggio)
Alleged victim:
The complainant
State party:
Italy
Date of complaint:
15 January 2014 (initial submission)
Date of present decision:
29 April 2016
Subject matter:
Conditions of detention; cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment
Procedural issues:
Exhaustion of domestic remedies, substantiation
of the complaint
Substantive issues:
Conditions of detention; cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment; training of
law enforcement officials; prevention of torture
Articles of the Convention:
1, 2 (2), 10, 11 and 16
1.
The complainant is B.R., a national of Tunisia born in 1984. He claims that his
detention and the conditions of detention in the Centre for Identification and Expulsion in
Lampedusa and on a ship in the harbour of Palermo in September 2011 constitute a
violation by Italy of article 1, read in conjunction with articles 2 (2), 10, 11 and 16, of the
Convention. The complainant is represented by counsel, Mara Biaggio.
Facts as presented by the complainant
2.1
On 13 September 2011, the complainant left the city of Sfax, Tunisia, along with 64
other persons, on a boat bound for Italy. After a 13-hour journey, the boat was intercepted
by the Italian coast guard and escorted to the island of Lampedusa. On 15 September 2011,
the complainant disembarked in Lampedusa, where he received immediate medical
attention, food and water. He was then taken by bus, together with other migrants, to the
Centre for Identification and Expulsion in Contrada Imbriacola. Here, migrants were stripGE.16-09656 (E)
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