Geri Council of Europe anti-torture Committee visits Bosnia and Herzegovina

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 Bosnia and Herzegovina from 11 to 21 June 2019. This was the CPT’s eighth visit to that country.
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee visits Bosnia and Herzegovina

During the visit, the delegation assessed the treatment and safeguards afforded to persons deprived of their liberty by the police and examined the situation of prisoners in three prisons. Further, it visited two psychiatric establishments and a social care home. Particular attention was paid during the visit to the measures taken by the authorities to implement the recommendations made by the Committee after previous visits.

In the course of the visit, the delegation held consultations with Mustafa Bišić, Assistant Minister of Justice of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Saliha Đuderija, Assistant Minister of Human Rights and Refugees of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Anton Kasipović, Minister of Justice of the Republika Srpska, Dragan Lukač, Minister of the Interior of the Republika Srpska, Hidajet Trako, Assistant Minister of Justice of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Miroslav Jurešić, Assistant Minister of Labour and Social Policy of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as with other senior officials from various Ministries and services concerned.

The delegation also met Jasminka Džumhur, Human Rights Ombudsman.

At the end of the visit, the delegation presented its preliminary observations to the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The visit was carried out by the following members of the CPT:

  • Mark Kelly, 1st Vice-President of the CPT (Head of delegation)
  • Ömer Müslümanoğlu
  • Vitalie Nagacevschi
  • Vytautas Raškauskas
  • Olivera Vulić.

They were supported by Christian Loda and Petr Hnátík of the Committee's Secretariat and assisted by two experts, James McManus, former Professor of Criminal Justice and former Prison Ombudsman of Scotland, United Kingdom, and Cyrille Orizet, psychiatrist, France.

The delegation visited the following places of deprivation of liberty:

Law enforcement establishments

Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH)

  • Detention Unit of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Sarajevo
  • Police Station “Dom Policije” of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Sarajevo
  • Headquarters of the Ministry of the Interior of the Canton of Sarajevo
  • Department for Organised Crime, Sexual Crimes and War Crimes of the Criminal Police, Sarajevo Cantonal Police Headquarters
  • Sarajevo Judicial Police Headquarters
  • Detention Unit located in the premises of Novo Sarajevo Police Station (Canton of Sarajevo)
  • Sarajevo Centar Police Station (Canton of Sarajevo)
  • Hadžići Police Station (Canton of Sarajevo)
  • Mostar Centar Police Station (Canton of Herzegovina-Neretva)
  • Stolac Police Station (Canton of Herzegovina-Neretva)

Republika Srpska (RS)

  • Banja Luka Centre for Public Security
  • Detention unit of the Banja Luka District Prosecutor’s Office
  • Directorate for Organised Crime and Serious Crime of the Ministry of the Interior, Zalužani
  • New police cell unit located in the premises of the Zalužani Police Training Centre
  • Pale Police Station
Prisons

FBiH

  • Mostar Prison
  • Sarajevo Remand Prison
RS
  • Banja Luka Prison

The delegation also visited East Sarajevo Prison in order to interview newly-admitted remand prisoners who had recently been in police custody.

Psychiatric establishments

RS

  • Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Sokolac
  • Special Psychiatric Hospital in Sokolac

FBiH

  • Social Care Home for Mentally Disabled in Stolac (establishment operating under the authority of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the FBiH).
25/06/2019
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