Chisinau, June 21 (Infotag). Moldovan human rights organizations are strongly concerned about how Moldovan police organs treat detained citizens and about living conditions in isolation cells.

On Wednesday, the Amnesty International Moldova convened a news conference in Infotag dedicated to the International Day of Support for Torture Victims. The conference was attended also by representatives from the Institute of Criminal Reforms, the Memoria health rehabilitation center for torture victims, the Moldovan Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, and Lawyers for Human Rights Organization.

Vyacheslav Turcan of the Amnesty International said tortures and harsh treatment of inmates are widely used in this republic.

He explained that the problem is aggravated by the existence of an awful practice: every police subdivision is set a strict plan of crime detection, according to which officers’ salaries depend directly on the number of crimes they disclose. No need to say that many “crimes” are simply “beaten out” of detained suspects, who sign whatever confession papers under the officers’ blows. Besides this, most of isolation cells are situated under the ground level, are wet, and have practically no ventilation.

In his words, many Moldovan lawyers, particularly in provincial localities, are not able to defend their clients’ interests properly, for they know little or nothing about international legal norms and requirements.

“In Moldova, a Program called “Lawyers and Human Rights” is being implemented, in whose frame local lawyers improve their professional background, study the experience of their colleagues in various countries, etc. The current Moldovan legislation envisages responsibility for tortures and violence. Detained citizens have the right to choose a lawyer themselves and to demand an independent forensic medical examination”, Turcanu said.

The Amnesty International Moldova has recently lodged claims with the European Court of Human Rights demanding to defend the rights of Sergei Gurgurov and Vitaly Kolibab who were tortured by the police. Despite the presence of all necessary documents proving the police officers’ brutality, the Moldovan prosecution organs have refused to initial criminal prosecution against the vandal cops.

In 2005 alone, there were nearly 600 police torture cases from Moldova pending examination with the European Court of Human Rights.