QURGHON TEPPA, June 26, 2008, Asia-Plus — A roundtable meeting formally titled “Tortures During Detention and in Pretrial Detention Facilities” was held in Qurghon Teppa, the capital of the southern Khatlon province on June 25.
Staged under support of the European Commission Delegation Tajikistan and the OSCE Center in Dushanbe, the meeting was dedicated to International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, which is marked on June 26.
Speaking in an interview with Asia-Plus, Yusuf Mahmadov, the head of the NGO Rushd (Development), said that the event was dedicated to promote eradicating tortures and raising legal awareness of the population in that sphere.
During the meeting, it was noted, that the law prohibits such practices; however, there are reports that law enforcement officers are employing them. Beatings and mistreatment are used during detention and in pretrial detention facilities.
Lawyer Akram Aqsaqolov noted that the country’s legislation requires improvement. “To eradicate tortures it is necessary to make amendment to the law permitting defense lawyer to participate in the investigation starting from the moment of detention,” said the lawyer, “In this case, the law-enforcement officers will not be able to mistreat detainees to extort a confession from them.”
The meeting participants also underlined the importance of raising legal awareness of the population.
The meeting participants included lawyers, representatives of NGOs, teachers and media.
Mahmadov said that officers of the police directorate and prosecutor’s office had also been invited to attend the meeting but they had not come.
The UN General Assembly (Resolution 39/46) adopted the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) on December 10, 1984. This Convention, which entered into force on June 26, 1987, obliges states to make torture a crime and to prosecute and punish those guilty of it. It notes explicitly that neither higher orders nor exceptional circumstances can justify torture. It was an important step to acknowledge that torture, and all forms of inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, are absolutely and universally illegal. Proposed by Denmark, the UN General Assembly in December 1997 marked the historic date – 26 June – as International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.
According to Tajik experts, Tajikistan joined the CAT in 1995; however it has not yet signed the Optional Protocol to the CAT that would allow Tajikistan’s citizens to apply directly to the UN Committee against Torture.
