Torture victims and witnesses need state's protection in Moldova
To accelerate detection of crimes, the State ought to ensure a reliable protection for torture victims and torture witnesses to thus let them speak out truth during and after investigation, presumes Deputy Director of the Institute for Penitentiary Reforms Victor Zaharia.
He said at a recent roundtable conference on preventing police tortures and other inhuman forms of treatment that European countries' legislations stipulate such protection, including even for investigators, which makes the officer feel confident and secure at investigating into the instances of tortures, for he does not depend in his actions on high bosses from Prosecutor Office or the Ministry of the Interior. Such officers are funded directly from the State Budget, "and I guess such practice should be introduced in Moldova as well".
Parliamentary ombudsman Anatolie Munteanu presumes that thank to the civil society, to a higher discipline of power officers and of the penitentiary system as a whole, the number of the instances of tortures and other inhuman treatment has diminished in Moldova.
"This year, there were only 3 instances when police officers allegedly tortured detained persons. These instances are now being investigated by the Prosecutor General's Office", the ombudsman said.
Eduard Harunja, Chief of the Criminal Prosecution Department at the Prosecutor General's Office, said that the heaviest political blow on Moldova's international image was delivered by the behaviour of some policemen after the April 7 events.
"During the post-electoral protesting, nearly 280 policemen were on duty on site, and some of them treated the protesting youth very harshly, as can be seen from video records. However, only 103 persons, who suffered from the police on that day and later on, have lodged official written complaints", Harunja said.
The roundtable conference was organized in the framework of the Torture Prevention Project financed by the European Union and the United Nations Development Program.
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