CCPR/C/122/D/2182/2012
United Nations
International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights
Distr.: General
6 November 2018
Original: English
Human Rights Committee
Decision adopted by the Committee under the Optional
Protocol, concerning communication No. 2182/2012*, **
Communication submitted by:
V.S. (not represented by counsel)
Alleged victim:
The author
State party:
Belarus
Date of communication:
15 November 2010 (initial submission)
Document references:
Decision taken pursuant to rule 97 of the
Committee’s rules of procedure, transmitted to
the State party on 3 July 2012 (not issued in
document form)
Date of adoption of decision:
27 March 2018
Subject matters:
Inhumane conditions of detention; access to
justice; effective remedy
Procedural issues:
Exhaustion of domestic remedies; State party’s
failure to cooperate
Substantive issues:
Conditions of detention; effective remedy
Articles of the Covenant:
2 (3) (a), 7 and 14 (1)
Articles of the Optional Protocol:
2 and 5 (2) (b)
1.
The author of the communication is V.S., a national of Belarus born in 1972. He
claims that the State party has violated his rights under articles 2 (3) (a), 7 and 14 (1) of the
Covenant. The Optional Protocol entered into force for the State party on 30 December
1992. The author is not represented by counsel.
The facts as submitted by the author
2.1
On 23 March 2010, the author was detained by police officers and charged with an
administrative offence. On 24 March 2010, at 2.40 a.m., he was taken to the Offenders’
Detention Centre in Minsk and kept there for seven hours, until he was taken to his court
hearing. The author complains that the conditions of detention in his cell at the Offenders’
Detention Centre were cruel, inhumane and degrading. The cell had no beds or chairs, with
only one wooden board that he and another detainee used for sleeping. He was forced to
* Adopted by the Committee at its 122nd session (12 March–6 April 2018).
** The following members of the Committee participated in the examination of the communication:
Tania María Abdo Rocholl, Yadh Ben Achour, Ilze Brands Kehris, Sarah Cleveland, Olivier de
Frouville, Christof Heyns, Ivana Jelić, Bamariam Koita, Duncan Laki Muhumuza, Photini Pazartzis,
Mauro Politi, José Manuel Santo Pais, Yuval Shany and Margo Waterval.
GE.18-18645(E)