In its new report published today, the Council of Europe’s anti-torture committee gives a generally positive assessment of the treatment of persons detained by the police, the situation of prisoners and of foreign nationals deprived of their liberty, as well as of forensic psychiatric patients. However, additional safeguards are needed for the usage of electrical discharge weapons by the police, effective protection against refoulement should be ensured, and the use of means of restraint for psychiatric patients should be revised. The response of the Slovenian authorities was published together with the report (in English and Slovenian).
The delegation of the Committee to Prevent Torture (CPT) received only a few isolated allegations of the police ill-treatment of detained persons. However, from the very outset of the deprivation of liberty detained persons should be ensured the access to a lawyer. Additional safeguards are also needed in the light of the recently introduced possibility of the use of electrical discharge weapons by the police: officials who may use them should be carefully selected and trained, and the criteria governing their use should be similar to those applicable to firearms.
