Albania: No to impunity for torture and ill-treatment

Albania: No to impunity for torture and ill-treatment

Amnesty International has learnt of over 105 incidents from the beginning of 2002 to the end of November 2004 in which police in Albania are alleged to have tortured or ill-treated one or more people - an average of 35 incidents a year.

In [AI's] report, the organization focuses on certain weaknesses in the provisions of Albanian legislation when measured against the requirements of the UN Convention against Torture, and most importantly, on failures to implement the Convention in practice, including:

• violations of the rights of detainees which facilitate torture and ill-treatment;
• failure to investigate promptly, thoroughly and impartially complaints of torture and ill-treatment and to bring those responsible to justice;
• Articles 86 and 87 of the Albanian Criminal Code (dealing with torture) do not accord with the definition of torture given in the UN Convention against Torture;
• the lack of state reparation, including fair and adequate compensation, for victims of torture and ill-treatment.

Amnesty International is dismayed at allegations of the ill-treatment, sometimes amounting to torture, of children by police.