CCPR/C/132/D/2711/2015 Advance unedited version
to smuggle a large amount of cash through the border. She was placed in the temporary
detention facility of the Leninsky District Police Department in Brest. On 22 April 2002, an
investigating officer issued an order for her detention on remand, which was approved by the
prosecutor of the Brest province on the same day. Later on 22 April, she was transferred to
the National Security Service (KGB) Detention Centre, where she was kept for several hours
before being transferred to the Investigative Detention Centre No.7 in Brest. She was released
on 30 April 2002.
2.2
The author submits that between 20 and 22 April 2002, she was detained in the
temporary detention facility of the Leninsky District Police Department in a basement cell
with concrete walls together with five other persons. The door of the cell had a peephole
through which the all-male personnel of the detention facility could watch her and other
detainees. The author was not provided with a mattress, pillow or blankets and had to sleep
on her coat spread on the metal grid of the bed frame. The cell was cold; the light in the cell
was red and it was on 24 hours, which disturbed her sleep. The cell had one window, covered
with a plastic sheet, which did not allow day light to penetrate. It was too dark to read. The
toilet was a hole in the floor, which was not separated from the rest of the cell and she had to
use it in front of the detainees. Above the toilet there was a cold water tap, without a sink.
Towels and soap were not provided. When the author was fingerprinted, her fingers were
covered with black ink which she was not able to wash away. There were rats and spiders in
the cell. There was no ventilation and the air in the cell was stale.
2.3
The author further submits that between 22 and 30 April 2002, she was detained in
the Investigative Detention Centre No.7 in the following conditions: she was placed in a cell
on the ground floor, which was 2.2 meters wide, 6.5 meters long and 3 meters high; it was
cold; loud marching music played at all times throughout the Centre so it was not possible to
have a conversation with other detainees; her cellmates smoked all the time and the
ventilation was poor, so the author who suffers from asthma had difficulties breathing; she
was given a mattress but she did not receive a pillow or blanket; the cell had one window
covered with iron blinds which did not open; there was a blue light and it was always on,
which disturbed her sleep but at the same time it was too dark to read. She was taken for a
walk once a day to a cell without a roof. The accompanying guards chased detainees with big
dogs, and the author feared that they would release the dogs and she would get bitten. Because
the author kept repeatedly demanding a meeting with the Polish Consular official and insisted
that her rights be respected, on three occasions she was placed in a special “box”, which was
a 0.7 by 0.7 meters small and extremely cold where it was not even possible to sit. Each time
she was forced to stay in that box for two hours. On 22 April 2002, the author fell ill and
guards had to call for an ambulance. The ambulance registered high blood pressure (180/110)
and haemorrhage in the author’s brain, which she attributes to the conditions of her detention.
2.4
On 11 April 2008, the author filed a complaint to the prosecutor of the Brest province
claiming that the conditions of her detention and treatment by guards in the Leninsky District
temporary detention facility and the Investigative Detention Centre No.7 between 20 and 30
April 2002 violated her rights under article 7 of the Covenant and amounted to sex
discrimination. The author submits that her claims were rejected by the decision of the
prosecutor of the Brest province, however provides no copy of such decision.
2.5
On 11 April 2008, the author filed a similar complaint to the head of the Brest Region
Police Department. In her complaint, the author requested to conduct an investigation into
conditions of her detention and actions of personnel at both facilities; to improve conditions
of detention, especially for female detainees; to hire female staff to guard female detainees;
and, to pay her adequate compensation for cruel and inhuman treatment. On 23 April 2008,
the author received a response from the head of the Leninsky District Police Department
informing her that her claims were not confirmed by the police department’s internal inquiry
and that the conditions of detention in the temporary detention facility were in line with the
requirements set by law. On 7 August 2008, the author received an additional response from
the head of the Leninsky District Police Department informing her that the temporary
detention facility did not employ any female personnel in 2002 or in 2008. According to the
letter, body searches of all newly booked female detainees were conducted by certified
female police officers of the Leninsky District Police Department.
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