Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/torture/CzechRepublic.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in the Czech
Republic. 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 *** Council of Europe
anti-torture Committee publishes report on the Czech Republic Executive Summary, 4
July 2019 [accessed 1 June
2020] The CPT notes that
the relevant legislation continues to allow detained persons to be handcuffed
to fixed objects in certain circumstances. To this end, stools in virtually
all police custody cells visited by its delegation were equipped with metal
loops which were used in practice, albeit very rarely and for short periods
of time. The CPT once again calls upon the authorities to stamp out
completely the practice of persons held by the police being attached to fixed
objects. As regards means of
restraint, the CPT reiterates its view that the use of net-beds is not
acceptable and urges the Czech authorities to implement without further delay
the Committee’s long-standing recommendation
to withdraw from
service all net-beds
in psychiatric hospitals
in the Czech Republic. In respect of mechanical
restraint and seclusion, it recommends amongst other things that the
duration of the
use of mechanical
restraint and seclusion be
for the shortest
possible time (usually
minutes rather than hours) and that every patient who is subjected to mechanical
restraint or seclusion benefit from continuous supervision by a qualified
member of the health-care staff. 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Czech Republic 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/czech-republic/
[accessed 8 July
2021] PRISON AND DETENTION
CENTER CONDITIONS High prison
populations, overcrowding, poor sanitary conditions in some prisons,
mistreatment of inmates, lack of medical staff, and generally unsatisfactory
conditions for inmates with physical or mental disabilities remained the main
concerns during the year. Freedom House
Country Report 2018 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/czech-republic/freedom-world/2018 [accessed 11 May
2020] F3. IS THERE PROTECTION FROM THE ILLEGITIMATE
USE OF PHYSICAL FORCE AND FREEDOM FROM WAR AND INSURGENCIES? The Czech Republic
is one of the safest states in the world. However, prisons in the Czech
Republic are overcrowded and at times unsanitary. Czech
Republic 2015/2016 Amnesty
International Annual Report 2015/16, page 136 www.amnesty.org/en/countries/europe-and-central-asia/czech-republic/report-czech-republic/ [accessed 22 August
2016] DOWNLOAD from www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/POL1025522016ENGLISH.PDF [accessed 30
December 2018] TORTURE AND OTHER
ILL-TREATMENT
- Patients with mental disabilities continued to be ill-treated in mental
health institutions. In March, the European Committee for the Prevention of
Torture called for an end to the practice of police officers restraining
agitated patients in psychiatric hospitals; expressed concerns over the use
of net beds as a protective measure or means of restraint, often for
excessive duration; and reiterated its call to withdraw them from psychiatric
hospitals and to use more suitable means, such as bordered beds, for patients
in need of protective measures. Prevention
of Torture Committee criticizes Czech prisons Raymond Johnston,
Prague Post, 1 April 2015 www.praguepost.com/czech-news/46468-prevention-of-torture-committee-criticizes-czech-prisons [accessed 9 April
2015] Overall, the
Council of Europe’s anti-torture committee report was positive but some
abuses remain The Council of
Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment (CPT) published its report on its April 2014 visit to
the Czech Republic. There were several areas where treatment of prisoners
could improve, but overall the report found few problems. The visit report
has been made public at the request of the Czech authorities. 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/CZE/CO/4-5
(2012) www1.umn.edu/humanrts/cat/observations/czechrepublic2012.html [accessed 26
February 2013] 7. While noting
that article 10 of the Constitution accords primacy to international treaties
approved by the Parliament over domestic legislation, the Committee is
concerned that new Criminal Code only establishes the crime of torture and
other inhuman and cruel treatment but does not define torture in terms of the
Convention (art. 1). The Committee
recommends that the State party amend its Criminal Code in order to adopt a
definition of torture that covers all the elements contained in article 1 of
the Convention. 12. The Committee
is concerned about reports of sterilization of Roma women without free and
informed consent, the destruction of medical records on involuntary
sterilizations and the difficulties of victims to obtain redress. (arts. 2,
14 and 16) The Committee recommends
that the State party investigate promptly, impartially and effectively all
allegations of involuntary sterilization of Roma women, extend the time limit
for filing complaints, prosecute and punish the perpetrators and provide
victims with fair and adequate redress. Medical personnel conducting
sterilizations without free, full and informed consent could be held
criminally liable and medical records concerning possible involuntary
sterilization should not be destroyed within the time frame prescribed by
law. Medical personnel should be trained on appropriate means of how to
obtain free and informed consent from women undergoing sterilization and all
written materials relating to sterilization should be translated into the
Roma language. 15. The Committee
is concerned about the problematic registration of complaints and the
independence of the system to assess them. In particular, the Committee is
concerned about the discrepancy between the number of complaints of torture
and ill-treatment in places of deprivation of liberty, especially those
described as justified and partially justified, and the absence of
prosecution in this connection for torture or ill-treatment committed by
police officers and prison staff (arts. 12 and 13). The Committee
recommends that the General Inspection of Security Forces promptly,
impartially and effectively investigate all allegations of torture and
ill-treatment by law enforcement officials and prison staff, prosecute the
perpetrators of such acts and provide redress, including compensation to the
victims. The State party should provide the Committee with data disaggregated
by, and with reference to, sex, age, ethnicity and origin of the victims and
with a breakdown according to the categories established in the law as grounds
for filing a complaint. AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL From an old article -- URL not available Article was
published sometime prior to 2015 ENFORCED
STERILIZATION OF ROMANI WOMEN - In October, in the course of the UN Universal
Periodic Review, the Czech Republic was again asked to investigate cases of
sterilization without consent of Romani women and to ensure adequate
compensation and reparation were provided. Search … AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL For current
articles:: Search Amnesty
International Website www.amnesty.org/en/search/?q=czech-republic+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 U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, March 8, 2006 www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61644.htm [accessed 22 January
2013] 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61644.htm [accessed 3 July
2019] TORTURE
AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT – The law
prohibits such practices; however, there were reports that police
occasionally used excessive force. Unlike in previous years, there were no
reports that police mistreated Roma. The office for the
documentation and investigation of the crimes of communism (UDV) continued to
investigate actions taken by government authorities and Communist Party
members during the 1948-1989 Communist regime.
According to the office, 25 former Communist-era secret police (StB) officers were prosecuted for their participation in antidissident raids in the Asanace
operation (a concerted campaign of harassment, torture, and abuse directed at
opponents of the Communist regime during the 1970s and 1980s). Eighteen
former secret policemen were sentenced to prison, with two additional
sentences still pending; five other cases were still under investigation.
Since 1989 the government has convicted 90 former StB
officials and sentenced 26 to prison. In September two
former secret police agents were charged with the torture and persecution of dissidents
during the 1970s. The trial was pending at year's end. There were no
developments in the case of police brutality alleged by a Briton and a New
Zealander in April 2004. At year's end no action had been taken on their
appeal of the decision to dismiss the case for lack of evidence. In January two
police officers, Marek Vrastil and Karel Berousek,
were convicted of assaulting a Romani family in their home in Popovice u Jicina in 2003. One
officer received a 20‑month suspended sentence and 4 years' probation;
the other received a 1-year suspended sentence and 3 years' probation. The
judge stated at the sentencing that the prosecution had not adequately proven
racial motives for the attack. In 2004 the three other police officers tried
for the attack were found not guilty by the district court in Jicin. The government
increased awareness among police and prosecutors of racially and ethnically
motivated crimes by integrating Roma‑specific issues into training
programs; gathering data on victimization rates; and researching
anti-extremist strategies. Police and prosecutors showed greater awareness of
the seriousness of crimes with racial and ethnic motivations, but observers
nevertheless criticized the effectiveness and timeliness with which such
crimes were investigated (see section 5). 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- Czech Republic ", http://gvnet.com/torture/CzechRepublic.htm,
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