Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/torture/Croatia.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Croatia. Some of these links may lead to websites
that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false. No
attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on
this page and others to see which aspects of Torture by Authorities are of
particular interest to you. You might
be interested in exploring the moral justification for inflicting pain or
inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment in order to obtain critical
information that may save countless lives, or to elicit a confession for a
criminal act, or to punish someone to teach him a lesson outside of the
courtroom. Perhaps your paper might
focus on some of the methods of torture, like fear, extreme temperatures,
starvation, thirst, sleep deprivation, suffocation, or immersion in freezing
water. On the other hand, you might
choose to write about the people acting in an official capacity who
perpetrate such cruelty. There is a
lot to the subject of Torture by Authorities.
Scan other countries as well as this one. Draw comparisons between activity in
adjacent countries and/or regions.
Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper
resources that are available on-line. ***
ARCHIVES *** Anti-torture
Committee publishes report on periodic visit to Croatia focusing on police,
prisons and psychiatry Executive Summary, 2
October 2018 [accessed 2 June
2020] LAW ENFORCEMENT
ESTABLISHMENTS
- The
vast majority of
persons met by
the delegation stated
that they had
been treated correctly
by police officers at the time of apprehension and while in police
custody. However, some allegations of physical ill-treatment consisting of slaps,
kicks and punches
inflicted by police
officers at the time
of the arrest
and during questioning
(including during so-called “informative talks”) were
received and, in
a few cases, the evidence
recorded upon admission to prison in
the inmates’ medical files supported the allegations. The CPT recommends that
police officers be reminded that physical
ill-treatment is unacceptable and
it invokes the
need for perpetrators to
be subjected to criminal penalties as well as
disciplinary sanctions. 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Croatia U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/croatia/
[accessed 8 July
2021] PRISON AND DETENTION
CENTER CONDITIONS Physical
Conditions: The ombudsperson’s 2019 annual report stated that in six of the
14 high-security units, the occupancy rate was more than 120 percent
(considered critical according to the Council of Europe’s European Committee
on Crime Problems). The prisons with the greatest overcrowding were those in
Karlovac (175 percent of capacity), Osijek (174 percent), and Pozega (167 percent). The report noted that many
prisoners resided in conditions that did not meet legal and international
standards, and in some cases they were degrading and dangerous to inmates’
health. Freedom House
Country Report 2018 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/croatia/freedom-world/2018 [accessed 11 May
2020] F3. IS THERE PROTECTION FROM THE ILLEGITIMATE
USE OF PHYSICAL FORCE AND FREEDOM FROM WAR AND INSURGENCIES? Violence by state
and nonstate actors is uncommon. However, there
were several reports of police violence against migrants, refugees, and
asylum seekers during the year, primarily at the Serbian border. Prison
conditions do not meet international standards due to overcrowding and
inadequate medical care. UN Committee
against Torture’s Concluding Observations on Sweden, Ukraine, Venezuela,
Australia, Burundi, USA, Croatia and Kazakhstan Office of the United
Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights OHCHR, Geneva, 24 November 2014 www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=15336&LangID=E [accessed 7 December
2014] The UN Committee
against Torture will be holding a news conference to discuss the concluding
observations of its 53rd session ... Among the issues discussed during the
session: CROATIA: Failure to
guarantee access to fundamental legal safeguards against torture for
detainees, such as immediate access to a lawyer; insufficient monitoring of
places of deprivation of liberty; amnesties for acts of torture; violence
against women; situation of people in psychiatric establishments; lack of
information regarding application of non-refoulement
principle. Conclusions and
recommendations of the Committee against Torture U.N. Convention
against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment -- Doc. CAT/C/CR/32/3
(2004) www1.umn.edu/humanrts/cat/observations/croatia2004.html [accessed 25
February 2013] C. Subjects of
concern 8. The Committee is
concerned about the following: (a) In connection
with torture and ill-treatment which reportedly occurred during the 1991-1995
armed conflict in the former Yugoslavia: (i) The reported failure of the State party to carry out
prompt, impartial and full investigations, to prosecute the perpetrators and
to provide fair and adequate compensation to the victims; (ii) Allegations
that double standards were applied at all stages of the proceedings against
Serb defendants and in favour of Croat defendants
in war crime trials; (iii) The reported
harassment, intimidation and threats faced by witnesses and victims
testifying in proceedings and the lack of adequate protection from the State
party; (b) The fact that,
to date, there have been no prosecutions or convictions for alleged crimes
pursuant to article 176 of the Penal Code, which criminalizes acts of torture
and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; (c) The reported
lack of prompt and adequate access by persons deprived of their liberty to
legal and medical assistance and to contact with family members; (d) In connection
with asylum-seekers and illegal immigrants: (i) The poor conditions of detention of those held in the Jezevo Reception Centre for Foreigners, including poor
hygienic conditions and limited access to recreational activities; (ii) The alleged
cases of violence against those held in the Jezevo
Reception Centre for Foreigners and the lack of prompt and impartial
investigations into this matter; (iii) The
deprivation of their liberty for prolonged periods of time; (e) The alleged
failure of the State party to address the issue of violence and bullying
between children and young adults placed in social care institutions; (f) The alleged
failure of the State party to prevent and fully and promptly investigate
violent attacks by non-State actors against members of ethnic and other
minorities; (g) The poor regime
for remand prisoners, who spend up to 22 hours a day in their cells without
meaningful activities. D. Recommendations 9. The Committee
recommends that the State party: (a) Take effective
measures to ensure impartial, full and prompt investigations into all
allegations of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, the
prosecution and punishment of the perpetrators as appropriate and
irrespective of their ethnic origin, and the provision of fair and adequate
compensation for the victims; (b) Ensure full
cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former
Yugoslavia (ICTY), inter alia by ensuring that all indicted persons in their
territory are arrested and transferred to the custody of the Tribunal; (c) Enforce all
relevant legislation providing for the protection of witnesses and other
participants in proceedings and ensure that sufficient funding is allocated
for effective and comprehensive witness protection programmes; (d) Make judges,
prosecutors and lawyers fully aware of Croatia's international obligations in
the field of human rights, particularly those enshrined in the Convention; (e) Take measures
to ensure in practice the right of all persons deprived of their liberty to
have prompt access to counsel and a doctor of their choice, as well as to
contact family members; (f) Adopt all
necessary measures to improve the material conditions of the reception centres for asylum-seekers and immigrants and ensure the
physical and psychological integrity of all individuals accommodated in these
centres; (g) Refrain from
detaining asylum-seekers and illegal immigrants for prolonged periods; (h) Discontinue the
practice of refusing access to asylum procedures because the authorities are
unable to verify the identity of asylum-seekers owing to a lack of
documentation or interpreters; (i) Provide an information sheet in the appropriate
languages to inform asylum-seekers of the asylum procedures immediately after
they are apprehended or arrive in the territory of the State party; (j) Allow the
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) full
access to asylum-seekers, and vice versa. UNHCR should normally be given
access to individual files so that it can monitor asylum procedures and
ensure that the rights of refugees and asylum-seekers are respected; (k) Increase the
protection of children and young adults placed in social care institutions,
inter alia by ensuring that violent acts are reported and investigated,
providing support and treatment for children and young adults with
psychological problems, and ensuring that these institutions employ trained personnel,
such as social workers, psychologists and pedagogues; (l) Ensure the
protection of members of ethnic and other minorities, inter alia by
undertaking all effective measures to prosecute and punish all violent acts
against these individuals, establishing programmes
to raise awareness, prevent and combat this form of violence, and including
this issue in the training of law enforcement officials and other relevant
professional groups; (m) Improve the
regime of activities for remand prisoners in accordance with international
standards; (n) Provide
information to the Committee on legal and other measures undertaken to ensure
the systematic review of interrogation rules, instructions, methods and
practices for persons deprived of their liberty; (o) Continue with
its efforts to strengthen human rights education and training activities on
the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment for law enforcement officials,
medical personnel, public officials and other persons who may be involved in
the custody, interrogation or treatment of any individual subjected to any
form of arrest, detention or imprisonment; (p) Provide to the
Committee statistical data regarding cases of torture and other forms of
cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment reported to
administrative authorities and the result of the investigations,
disaggregated by, inter alia, gender, ethnic group, geographical region, and
type and location of place of deprivation of liberty, where it occurred. In
addition, information should be provided regarding complaints and cases filed
with domestic courts, including the results of investigations and the
consequences for the victim in terms of redress and compensation. AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL From an old article -- URL not available Article was
published sometime prior to 2015 Despite some
progress in prosecuting crimes under international law committed during the
1991-1995 war, the measures taken to address impunity remained inadequate.
Many crimes allegedly committed by members of the Croatian Army and police
forces against Croatian Serbs and other minorities remained uninvestigated.
Discrimination against Roma, Croatian Serbs and LGBTI people continued. CRIMES UNDER
INTERNATIONAL LAW Tomislav Merčep, former Assistant Minister of the Interior
and the commander of the Ministry’s special reserve unit, who was indicted in
2011 and had been under arrest since 2010, was released in July. He had been
charged in relation to the killing and enforced disappearance of 43 Croatian
Serb civilians in the area of Zagreb and Pakračka
poljana. Search … AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL For current
articles:: Search Amnesty
International Website www.amnesty.org/en/search/?q=croatia+torture&ref=&year=&lang=en&adv=1&sort=relevance [accessed 25 December
2018] Scroll
Down ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Human Rights Reports
» 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61642.htm [accessed 22 January
2013] 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61642.htm [accessed 3 July
2019] TORTURE
AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT – The law
prohibits such practices. Interior ministry statistics
showed a general decline in reports of police mistreatment. In June a court
sentenced one police officer to 15 months in prison and another to 4 months probation for the severe beating in 2004 of a
young man during questioning in Varazdin. All material
used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107 for
noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this
webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, " Torture by Police, Forced
Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment in the early years of the 21st
Century- Croatia ", http://gvnet.com/torture/Croatia.htm, [accessed
<date>] |
