Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09PRAGUE443
2009-07-31 14:32:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Prague
Cable title:
CZECH REPUBLIC: COUNTER TORTURE INITIATIVES
how-toVZCZCXRO1321 RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHNP RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSL RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG DE RUEHPG #0443 2121432 ZNR UUUUU ZZH R 311432Z JUL 09 FM AMEMBASSY PRAGUE TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1611 INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS PRAGUE 000443
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR DRL/MLGA KRISTEN MCGEENY, EUR/CE FOR JBERGMANN
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM EZ
SUBJECT: CZECH REPUBLIC: COUNTER TORTURE INITIATIVES
REF: STATE 070129
UNCLAS PRAGUE 000443
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR DRL/MLGA KRISTEN MCGEENY, EUR/CE FOR JBERGMANN
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM EZ
SUBJECT: CZECH REPUBLIC: COUNTER TORTURE INITIATIVES
REF: STATE 070129
1. (SBU) Responding to reftel, the former Czechoslovakia
signed the United Nations Convention Against Torture in 1986.
The Czech Republic considers itself bound by international
treaties entered into by Czechoslovakia. The fourth and
fifth periodic reports of the Czech Republic to the UN
Committee Against Torture are due December 31, 2009. In a
response to questions by the Committee Against Torture in
January 2008 in preparation for the periodic reports, the
Czech government said that no person in the country had been
investigated, prosecuted, or convicted of the criminal
offense of "torture, and other forms of inhuman and cruel
treatment" as defined by Section 259(a) of the criminal code
from 1998 to 2005. Our Human Rights Reports have seconded
this view. The Czech Office for the Documentation and
Investigation of the Crimes of Communism (UDV) also
investigates cases of torture, but the focus is on government
authorities and Communist Party members of the former
Communist regime for the period 1948-1989.
2. (SBU) One new mechanism used to prevent torture and
protect victims is contained within the Czech Ombudsman Act.
Since January 1, 2006, the Ombudsman has had the authority,
without prior notification, to make systematic visits to
detention facilities or to protective or institutional care
facilities, with the goal of protecting individuals from
torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. According
to the Ombudsman's office, the Ombudsman regularly visits
such facilities and has found no cases of torture or inhuman
treatment. A second mechanism is police training. Police in
the Czech Republic receive orientation training instructing
them that they cannot use physical coercion to obtain
information.
Thompson-Jones
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR DRL/MLGA KRISTEN MCGEENY, EUR/CE FOR JBERGMANN
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM EZ
SUBJECT: CZECH REPUBLIC: COUNTER TORTURE INITIATIVES
REF: STATE 070129
1. (SBU) Responding to reftel, the former Czechoslovakia
signed the United Nations Convention Against Torture in 1986.
The Czech Republic considers itself bound by international
treaties entered into by Czechoslovakia. The fourth and
fifth periodic reports of the Czech Republic to the UN
Committee Against Torture are due December 31, 2009. In a
response to questions by the Committee Against Torture in
January 2008 in preparation for the periodic reports, the
Czech government said that no person in the country had been
investigated, prosecuted, or convicted of the criminal
offense of "torture, and other forms of inhuman and cruel
treatment" as defined by Section 259(a) of the criminal code
from 1998 to 2005. Our Human Rights Reports have seconded
this view. The Czech Office for the Documentation and
Investigation of the Crimes of Communism (UDV) also
investigates cases of torture, but the focus is on government
authorities and Communist Party members of the former
Communist regime for the period 1948-1989.
2. (SBU) One new mechanism used to prevent torture and
protect victims is contained within the Czech Ombudsman Act.
Since January 1, 2006, the Ombudsman has had the authority,
without prior notification, to make systematic visits to
detention facilities or to protective or institutional care
facilities, with the goal of protecting individuals from
torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. According
to the Ombudsman's office, the Ombudsman regularly visits
such facilities and has found no cases of torture or inhuman
treatment. A second mechanism is police training. Police in
the Czech Republic receive orientation training instructing
them that they cannot use physical coercion to obtain
information.
Thompson-Jones