News 2021
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee visits Lithuania
The main objective of the visit was to examine the treatment and conditions of detention of persons held in police and prison establishments as well as of foreign nationals detained under aliens legislation. The delegation also reviewed the legal safeguards offered to involuntary psychiatric...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee visits Austria
The delegation examined the treatment and conditions of detention of persons held in several prisons. It also assessed the situation of persons subjected to the court‑imposed measure of involuntary forensic placement (Massnahmenvollzug) and of involuntary patients in a civil psychiatric hospital....
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee carries out visit to prisons in Greece
The main objective of the visit was to examine the treatment of prisoners and to review the progress made by the authorities in implementing the Committee’s recommendations made over the past 10 years, in particularly regarding overcrowding and poor conditions of detention, inter-prisoner...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee publishes report on its 2020 ad hoc visit to Croatia
In a report on Croatia published today, the CPT urges the Croatian authorities to take determined action to stop migrants being ill-treated by police officers and to ensure that cases of alleged ill-treatment are investigated effectively. The Committee carried out a rapid reaction visit to...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee visits Albania and holds high-level talks with the Albanian authorities
The main objective of the visit was to review the progress made as regards the implementation of the CPT’s long-standing recommendation that all forensic psychiatric patients be transferred to a proper forensic psychiatric facility. To this end, the CPT’s delegation visited Zaharia Special...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) visits Belgium
The delegation visited Antwerp, Lantin, St-Gilles and Ypres Prisons and paid particular attention to issues such as material conditions, overcrowding, activities, health-care services (including the situation in psychiatric annexes), staff - especially in the context of prison staff strikes and...
Anti-torture Committee publishes 2020 visit report on police and prisons in Spain
The Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) has published today the report on its periodic to Spain, which took place from 14 to 28 September 2020, together with the response of the Spanish authorities. In the course of...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee issues public statement on Bulgaria
The Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) has issued a public statement on Bulgaria today. This Statement, which is made in application of Article 10 (2) of the Convention establishing the Committee,[1] addresses the...
The CPT holds its October 2021 plenary meeting
During this meeting, the CPT adopted the reports on its periodic visits to Switzerland (March/April 2021) and the United Kingdom (June 2021) as well as on its ad hoc visits to Georgia and Romania (both in May 2021). These reports will be sent in due course to the respective Governments.[1] The...
In remembrance of our dear colleague Patrick Müller
Patrick sadly passed away on 14 October 2021. He joined the CPT Secretariat in 1996, working in the field of information management and documentation and acting as the focal point for CPT contacts with the media. More recently, he also participated in CPT visits, contributing to the Committee’s...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) President holds high-level talks with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior of Croatia on migration issues
The talks were held in an open and constructive atmosphere, focusing on the challenges facing Croatia to manage its extensive land borders and the migration flows into the country. There was mutual recognition that there has to be a coordinated European approach to managing the entry of large...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee visits Bulgaria
The main objective of the visit was to review the measures taken by the Bulgarian authorities in response to the recommendations made by the Committee after previous visits. In this connection, particular attention was paid to the treatment and conditions of detention of persons in police custody...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee carries out a 15-day visit to the Russian Federation
In the course of the visit, particular attention was paid to the treatment and conditions of detention of persons in police custody and penitentiary establishments, including remand prisoners and sentenced female and male prisoners in correctional colonies. Further, the delegation examined the...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee carries out visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina focussed on law enforcement agencies
The primary focus of the visit was to examine the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty by police agencies at the State, Entity and Cantonal levels. The treatment and conditions of detention of remand prisoners held in several prison establishments were also examined. Further, the CPT’s...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee publishes the response of the Finnish authorities to the report on the 2020 visit
The response to paragraphs 122 and 126 of the report was received in June 2021, the full response in September 2021. Both have been made public under the automatic publication procedure introduced by the Finnish authorities. The CPT's report was published in May 2021. Read the response in English...
The CPT publishes report on Kosovo*
In the course of the visit, the delegation examined the treatment and conditions of detention of persons held in several police establishments and prisons, as well as the treatment, living conditions and legal safeguards offered to civil and forensic psychiatric patients and residents in a social...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee publishes report on its 2019 visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina
The report states that the CPT’s delegation received numerous allegations of physical and psychological ill-treatment of detained persons by law enforcement officials within the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH). The severity of the alleged ill-treatment (e.g., falaka, rape with a...
The CPT publishes report on Sweden
The main objective of the visit was to review the measures taken by the Swedish authorities in response to the recommendations made by the Committee after previous visits. For this purpose, the delegation visited six police detention facilities (in Avesta, Malmö, Stockholm – Norrmalm, Södermalm...
CPT participates in webinar to examine Scotland’s progress in preventing ill-treatment in places of detention
On 25 August 2021, the CPT’s President, Alan Mitchell, and the Head of delegation for the CPT’s visits to Scotland (United Kingdom) in 2018 and 2019, Julia Kozma, participated in a webinar with criminal justice practitioners and academics to discuss a report by the Scottish subgroup of the UK...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee announces periodic visits to eight countries in 2022
The Committee intends to examine the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty in the following countries: Croatia Estonia Italy Netherlands Poland Portugal San Marino Ukraine Persons and organisations in possession of relevant information concerning the situation of persons deprived of...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee publishes report on its 2020 visit to North Macedonia
The main objective of the visit was to the examine the treatment and conditions of detention of prisoners held at Idrizovo and Skopje Prisons as well as of persons detained by the police in the Skopje area. The visit also included talks with the Prime Minister Zoran Zaev and the Minister of...
105th plenary meeting of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT)
During the session, the Committee adopted the reports on its periodic visits to Azerbaijan (December 2020), Germany (December 2020), Serbia (March 2021), Sweden (January 2021) and Turkey (January 2021). These reports will be transmitted in due course to the respective national authorities. In...
France: anti-torture Committee deplores conditions of detention, prison overcrowding and lack of psychiatric beds
As regards police establishments, while the majority of those interviewed did not report any physical ill-treatment, several people indicated that they had been deliberately beaten during their arrest or on police premises. Allegations of insults, including of a racist or homophobic nature, were...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee visits the United Kingdom
In the course of the visit, the delegation examined the treatment of persons held in prisons in England. Particular attention was paid to the impact of the restrictions imposed in the context of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, safety and violence in prisons, situation of female prisoners and the...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee publishes 5th periodic visit report on Armenia
The CPT has today published a report on its fifth periodic visit to Armenia, which took place from 2 to 12 December 2019, together with the response of the Armenian Government. Both documents have been made public at the request of the Armenian authorities. The Committee notes that the great...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) visits Georgia and holds high-level talks with the Minister of Justice on the situation in semi-open penitentiary establishments
The delegation visited all three such establishments in the country: Prison No. 14 in Geguti, Prison No. 15 in Ksani and Prison No. 17 in Rustavi. Further, the delegation went to the closed-type Prison No. 2 in Kutaisi and to the secure ward of Vivamed clinic in Tbilisi in order to interview...
The Council of Europe anti-torture Committee visits prisons and police arrest detention centres in Romania
The purpose of the ad hoc visit was to examine the treatment of persons held in prison and police establishments, and to evaluate the measures taken by the Romanian authorities to improve the situation since the Committee’s February 2018 visit. To this end, the CPT’s delegation visited four...
Anti-torture Committee publishes report on Monaco
The CPT received no allegations of ill-treatment and many persons deprived of their liberty said that they had been treated with respect by law enforcement officials, prison and hospital staff. On the whole, the report notes that the fundamental safeguards against ill-treatment in custody were in...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee publishes report on its 2019 visit to North Macedonia
The Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) has published today the report on its 5th periodic visit to North Macedonia conducted from 2 to 12 December 2019 together with the response from the authorities. The CPT’s...
Anti-torture committee warns against the impact of austerity measures on the conditions of detention in prisons
In its annual report for 2020, the CPT recalls that in many of its visits over the years it has found a failure to meet the basic needs of prisoners in certain establishments, which could lead to situations in which prisoners are exposed to inhuman and degrading treatment. The Committee points...
The CPT publishes report on Finland
The main objective of the visit was to review the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty by the police and in immigration detention, as well as the situation of prisoners. The delegation further carried out visits to two State Residential Schools and to the psychiatric units of Helsinki...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee publishes Moldovan response to the report on the 2020 visit
The Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) published today the response of the Moldovan authorities to the report on the Committee’s periodic visit to the Republic of Moldova, which took place from 28 January to 7...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee carries out an 11-day visit to Switzerland
The aim of the visit was to examine the treatment and conditions of detention of persons deprived of their liberty in seven cantons of the Swiss Confederation. Particular attention was paid to the situation of persons deprived of their liberty by the police, persons held in remand detention or...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee carries out 11-day visit to Serbia
In the course of the visit, the CPT’s delegation examined the treatment and safeguards afforded to persons detained by law enforcement agencies. It also looked into the treatment and conditions of detention of persons held in three prison establishments, both on remand and sentenced. A further...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee publishes Ukrainian response to the report on the 2020 visit
The response has been made public under an automatic publication procedure introduced by the Ukrainian authorities. The CPT's report was published in December 2020. Read the response Read the report The CPT and Ukraine
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee publishes Bulgarian response to the report on the 2020 ad hoc visit
In the report the CPT had made recommendations on the treatment of patients in psychiatric hospitals and residents of social care institutions. The response has been made public under an automatic publication procedure introduced by the Bulgarian authorities in 2015. Read the response in English,...
Council of Europe’s anti-torture Committee calls on Malta to improve the treatment of detained migrants
The Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) has published today the report on its ad hoc visit to Malta focussing on immigration detention, which took place from 17 to 22 September 2020, together with the response of the...
The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) held its 104th plenary meeting from 1 to 5 March 2021
During the session, the Committee adopted the reports on its periodic visits to Finland, Monaco and Spain in September 2020 and on its ad hoc visits to Kosovo* (October 2020) and North Macedonia (December 2020). These reports will be transmitted in due course to the respective authorities. In...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee visits Sweden
A delegation of the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) carried out a periodic visit to Sweden from 18 to 29 January 2021. It was the Committee's sixth periodic visit to the country. The main objective of the visit was...
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee visits Turkey
The main objective of the visit was to examine the treatment and safeguards afforded to persons detained by law enforcement agencies as well as the treatment and conditions of detention of persons held in prisons. Particular attention was paid to the situation of women, juvenile prisoners and...
