Uitspraak
RECHTBANK AMSTERDAM
INTERNATIONALE RECHTSHULPKAMER
the Vilnius Regional Court,Litouwen (hierna:
1.Procesgang
2.Identiteit van de opgeëiste persoon
3.Tussenuitspraak van 3 oktober 2024
4.Artikel 11 OLW; detentieomstandigheden in Litouwen
the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment(hierna: CPT) van 18 juli 2024 (hierna: het CPT-rapport 2024).
tandpunten van de raadsman en de officier van justitie van justitie
Aranyosien
Căldăraru) [5] is de rechterlijke autoriteit van de uitvoerende lidstaat, wanneer zij bewijzen heeft dat er een reëel gevaar bestaat dat personen die in de uitvaardigende lidstaat zijn gedetineerd, onmenselijk of vernederend – afgemeten aan het beschermingscriterium van de door het Unierecht en met name door artikel 4 van het Handvest van de grondrechten van de Europese Unie (hierna: Handvest) gewaarborgde grondrechten – worden behandeld, verplicht om te beoordelen of dit gevaar bestaat voordat zij beslist over de overlevering van de opgeëiste persoon. De tenuitvoerlegging van een EAB mag immers niet leiden tot onmenselijke of vernederende behandeling van die persoon.
2.Inter-prisoner violence
Recording of injuries and investigation
30. As during previous visits, the CPT delegation received many credible allegations of inter-prisoner violence, including stabbings with sharp objects, beatings, scaldings, bullying and other forms of psychological pressure, extortion, and coercion to commit new crimes and disciplinary offenses. Such allegations were received from prisoners accommodated across different units within all the prisons visited.
(…)
34. In every prison the delegation found medical records of injuries indicative of inter-prisoner violence majority of which were, however, explained away by the prisoners concerned as “an accident”. (…)
(…)
43. The delegation interviewed the majority of the prisoners whose injuries were recorded during the first six weeks of 2024 (in some cases, injuries were still visible). Only a small number of them admitted having been attacked by another inmate. Many more were not willing to talk openly about the circumstances surrounding the injury. They explained to the delegation that according to the unwritten rules amongst inmates, a prisoner was not allowed to complain about physical violence and that it was not only forbidden to name a perpetrator(s) but even to suggest that there was any physical violence to begin with. After explaining this, the prisoners interviewed continued to state that the injuries they had sustained had been caused by “an accident” – falling down the stairs, walking into a door, slipping in the shower, falling off a bed – all the while smiling ambiguously.
(…)
47. (…)The findings of the 2024 visit show that, due to the persistence of the root causes of inter-prisoner violence which are described in detail in the chapters below (illicit drug use, informal prisoner hierarchy, and catastrophically low staff presence inside detention areas, in the broader context of a largely prevailing dormitory-type accommodation), as well as a lamentable lack of trust by the prisoners in the staff’s ability to guarantee their safety, the Lithuanian authorities are still far from fully implementing their above-mentioned duties.
illicit drug use
49. (…) The “division of labour” amongst castes was seemingly that prisoners from the lowest caste, the “untouchables”, were usually the ones using drugs and transferring them inside the prison, and the highest caste prisoners were the ones organising the ingress of illicit drugs into a prison and controlling their sale inside (see more about the characteristics of different castes in the chapter below). (…)
(…)
55. Furthermore, the Committee notes that the rules of the informal prisoner hierarchy forbid any “cooperation” with the authorities which, inter alia means that prisoners who wish to get treatment for their addiction in the rehabilitation centre automatically fall within the lowest caste, the “untouchables”, having signed a statement that they don’t support informal prisoner hierarchy. It is therefore unsurprising that, as during the 2021 visit, a number of interviewed prisoners said that they were reluctant to take part in rehabilitation programmes
informal prisoner hierarchy
65. During interviews with prisoners from the lowest and rather numerous caste (the “untouchables”), the delegation inquired about the impact of their status on their daily lives. Such prisoners explained that they were not allowed “to have an opinion, to raise our voice, to hit an inmate from a higher caste, or to physically resist when being hit by an inmate from a higher caste”. Further, they said that they had to stand guard outside the unit for hours every day and inform other inmates when they saw prison staff approaching the (unstaffed) unit (the delegation witnessed this numerous times in all prisons visited). Additionally, some prisoners said that they had to give up their place in the queue at the doctor’s office to highest caste prisoners, others that they had to take the blame for disciplinary violations committed by the highest caste prisoners (so that the latter did not lose their status, and the benefits, of being ‘well-behaved’ prisoners).
67. In the CPT’s view, the situation of the prisoners belonging to the lowest caste in Lithuania, which in some cases could amount to modern slavery (in the form of forced labour), could be considered to constitute a continuing violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits, inter alia all forms of degrading treatment and obliges state authorities to take appropriate measures to prevent such treatment, including that carried out by private individuals, including fellow prisoners.
(…)
lack of staff presence in accommodation areas
74. The Committee sees a very clear link between the findings regarding inter-prisoner violence and the widespread presence of illicit drugs with the numbers of the custodial staff present in accommodation areas. The numbers are totally inadequate to ensure the duty of prison staff to protect prisoners from other inmates who might wish to cause them harm, or to prevent the influx of illicit drugs into the prisons and their sale, once inside. Furthermore, such staffing numbers do not allow the establishment of any meaningful contact between custodial staff and prisoners, to which the Lithuanian authorities allege to aspire, and which would lead to a better staff understanding of prisoners, assisting them with daily issues, motivating them to engage in positive activities, and, most importantly, earning their trust, which is so visibly absent at present. Sufficient staffing levels is a foundation for establishing genuine dynamic security, which is still woefully lacking in Lithuanian prisons. (…)
algemenereële gevaar.
inter-prisoner violenceen wordt onderworpen aan de hierboven vermelde – door het CPT als probleempunten aangemerkte – omstandigheden?
5.Beslissing
14 dagen vóór 14 januari 2025(het einde van de verlengde beslistermijn) weer op zitting moet worden aangebracht;