2017 News

Back Council of Europe anti-torture Committee visits Estonia

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 Estonia from 27 September to 5 October 2017. This was the CPT’s sixth visit to that country.

During the visit, the CPT’s delegation assessed progress made in implementing recommendations made by the Committee after the previous visit. In this context, the delegation paid particular attention to the treatment and safeguard afforded to persons deprived of their liberty by the police and examined the conditions of detention in a number of police establishments. In addition, it visited all three prisons of the country and a special closed institution for juveniles.

In the course of the visit, the delegation held consultations with Urmas Reinsalu, Minister of Justice, Priit Kama, Deputy Secretary General for Prisons, Raivo Küüt, Deputy Secretary General for Public Order and Migration Policy from the Ministry of the Interior and other senior officials from the Ministries of Justice, Interior and Education and Research.

The delegation also met Heili Sepp, Deputy Chancellor of Justice (Ombudsman), and senior representatives from the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) established under the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention against Torture (OPCAT).

At the end of the visit, the delegation presented its preliminary observations to the Estonian authorities.

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

Georg Høyer (Head of delegation)
Per Granström
Inga Harutyunyan
Jari Pirjola
Vytautas Raškauskas
Antonius van Kalmthout.

They were supported by Aurélie Pasquier and Almut Schröder of the Committee's Secretariat and assisted by an expert, Vincent Theis, former Director of Luxembourg Prison.

The delegation visited the following places of deprivation of liberty: