The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) draws attention to the significant number of detained persons, interviewed by its delegation, who alleged ill-treatment by the police. It recommends a strengthening of fundamental safeguards against ill-treatment as well the stepping up of professional training for law enforcement officials. Measures to improve the poor conditions in the detention facility at Tiraspol Police Headquarters are also identified. The local authorities of the Transnistrian region emphasise their willingness to implement the CPT’s recommendations and highlight various specific steps already taken.

In response to concerns expressed by the CPT about the solitary confinement regime applied to three members of the Ilaşcu group, the local authorities of the Transnistrian region affirm that the prisoners concerned were isolated at their own request. One of those prisoners, the parliamentarian Ilie Ilaşcu, was released on 5 May 2001.

The report on the November 2000 visit is published today, with the agreement of both the authorities of the Republic of Moldova and the local authorities of the Transnistrian region. The local authorities’ responses have also been made public. Both documents are available in English and Russian on the CPT’s website: http://www.cpt.coe.int