In a report published Tuesday, the Council of Europe’s Anti-torture Committee (CPT) called on authorities in BiH to take vigorous action to address police ill treatment. According to a Council of Europe press release:
The report, based on the CPT’s findings during its visit to the country in June 2019 and published together with the response of the authorities, describes numerous allegations of physical and psychological ill treatment, whose severity, in the CPT’s view, could amount to torture (e.g., falaka, rape with a baton, mock execution with a gun) of detained persons by law enforcement officials within the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH). The allegations of ill treatment against criminal suspects, consisted of kicks, punches, slaps and blows with batons, baseball bats, wooden tiles and electric cables, inflicted by crime inspectors and members of special intervention units with the intention of coercing them to confess. The report notes that in the Republika Srpska (RS) fewer allegations of police ill treatment were received than in 2012 and 2015.
The report criticized conditions at the Sarajevo and Mostar prisons, but said, “By contrast, at Banja Luka Prison the CPT found an improved atmosphere between staff and persons in prison compared to previous visits.”
Read the Council of Europe’s full press release here.
