5.2.Detentieomstandigheden Barczewo
Inleiding
Al in een aantal eerdere overleveringszaken is door raadslieden een beroep gedaan op informatie over de detentieomstandigheden in de gevangenis van Barczewo.De rechtbank is er tot nu toe vanuit gegaan dat opgeëiste personen die niet in de buurt van Barczewo geboren, woonachtig of veroordeeld zijn naar alle waarschijnlijkheid ook niet in de gevangenis aldaar geplaatst zullen worden. Om die reden zijn tot nu toe geen nadere vragen gesteld over de situatie in de gevangenis van Barczewo.
Recentelijk heeft de rechtbank via de Poolse contactpersoon van het
European Judicial Network(hierna: EJN) de volgende informatie ontvangen over het Poolse plaatsingsbeleid van gedetineerden (gebaseerd op de Poolse
Executive Penal Code):
“(…)
CONVICTS
There are no provisions in the Polish law indicating the prison being close the convicts place of living, as appropriate one for him to service the sentence. Only in the period of up to 6 months before the expected early release or before completion of the punishment, the convict should, if possible, serve imprisonment in an institution located as near his/her future place of residence as possible. (The place of residence is indicated by convict).
The court in the verdict can indicate the correctional institution and the system of execution of the penalty that is appropriate in particular case. The penitentiary commission refers the convict to an appropriate correctional institution and to the specific system of execution of the penalty, if are not specified in verdict.
In order to create conditions conducive to individual treatment of convicts, prevention of harmful influence of demoralized convicts and ensuring personal safety of convicts, selection of the appropriate system of execution of the punishment, kind and type of correctional institution and placement of convicts within the institution – a classification of convicts is carried out.
The classification of convicts is carried out, taking into consideration, in particular:
‐ gender,
‐ age,
‐ previous imprisonment
‐ intent or lack of intent of the act,
‐ the remaining period of imprisonment to be served,
‐ physical and psychical condition, including the degree of addiction to alcohol,
intoxicants or psychotropic drugs,
‐ the degree of demoralization and threat to society,
‐ type of crime committed.
The basis for classification are, in particular, personality tests.
(…)
The convict serves imprisonment in an appropriate prison due to kind and type of correctional institution, system of execution or the degree of protection. Transfer of convict to another, appropriate correctional institution is possible in particular for:
- change of use of correctional institution
- employment or education
- in order to provide of medical service
- referring to: diagnostic center, therapeutic ward, or ward for convicts create a high
level of threat against the society or a serious threat against safety of the prison
- participation in court proceedings
- important family reasons
- reasons related to the safety of the convict
- necessity to ensure discipline and order in correctional institution”
Uit de bovenstaande informatie heeft de rechtbank afgeleid dat zij er ten onrechte vanuit is gegaan dat geografische aspecten (lees: geboorteplaats, woonplaats en plaats van veroordeling) doorslaggevend zijn bij de plaatsing van een veroordeelde, waardoor niet langer kan worden uitgesloten dat een opgeëiste persoon geplaatst zal worden in de gevangenis van Barczewo.
In het
Report of the Commissioner for Human Rights on the Activities of the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in Poland in 2022(hierna: het rapport van het NMPT) is op pagina’s 46 t/m 48 het volgende te lezen over de situatie in de gevangenis van Barczewo:
“(…) Treatment of prisoners
At the prison in Barczewo, the NMPT visiting team were informed, during the interviews with prisoners, of acts of violence by certain officers against prisoners, that allegedly took place there. The alleged acts were said to include torture and inhuman and degrading treatment. It was reported by the prisoners that they were taken from their cells to unmonitored rooms where, according to their information, they were beaten, insulted, intimidated, choked and even waterboarded. There were cases, allegedly, in which officers put a black bag or a wet towel on prisoners’ heads.
The prison is characterized by strict regime and discipline. According to the NMPT visiting team, it is maintained with the use of informal methods. Since 2021, there have been no cases of applying coercive measures, which is an exception in such prisons. At the time of the visit, the atmosphere in the prison was bad and the prisoners were intimidated. After the individual interviews conducted by the NMPT representatives, the prisoners were taken from their cells by Prison Service officers, officially to the infirmary. In fact, they were taken to the security staff room where they were questioned about the course of the interviews and the information they provided. The Prison Service officers entered untrue information in the prisoner movement register by stating that the prisoners were taken to the infirmary. In fact, they were taken to another room as the NMPT team discovered in the establishment.
The NMPT delegation was also informed by the prisoners about a case of an inmate who had been beaten by Prison Service officers as a result of which he suffered a cardiac arrest. The prisoners reported that no ambulance was called and the inmate was resuscitated by the officers who restored his vital functions.
According to the materials collected by the NMPT representatives, during the alleged torture that took place a few days before the NMPT visit a paramedic was also present. One of the prisoners from the ward for so-called dangerous prisoners decided to file an official complaint via the NMPT representative. The prisoner alleged that he had been taken to an unmonitored medical room where he was tortured by waterboarding. He had been forced to lie down on the floor, his face was covered with a towel and water was poured on it. The video surveillance recordings showed the man being brought to his cell after that and taking off his wet jacket, t-shirt and underwear.
During the visit to another detention facility, a representative of the NMPT was also informed, in a confidential interview with a former inmate of the Barczewo prison, of the use of torture in that establishment. The interviewed prisoner filed an official complaint via the representative of the NMPT. The man said that he had been tortured in June 2022. As he described, he was first pushed towards a wall and had to stand facing it. His arms were then twisted behind his back. Two officers pulled him by the legs, as a result of which he fell to the floor. He was dragged along and his arms were twisted behind his back again. When he was lying down with his face to the floor, one of the officers pressed his neck with his knee and hit him several times on the head. The prisoner said that later the officers poured water into a black garbage bag and put his head into it as a result of which he choked and lost his consciousness. When he regained consciousness, the officers turned his head to the side and started pouring water on it.
According to the information obtained by the NMPT team, the prison security department officers intimidated the prisoners and used repressions as well as physical and verbal violence against them. Representatives of the National Mechanism were informed of a situation in which the security department officers brought a prisoner to his cell and the man had signs of being beaten (his legs and feet were bruised and he was so weak that he “could not stand on his feet”). He said that he had been beaten by the security department officers. After a few days, the officers blamed his cell inmates of beating the man. The prisoners reported that “there is a room in the prison where prisoners are taken and beaten, and before they are told that they are taken to the doctor. There are no cameras in the room”. The officers intimidated the inmates and told them “we will do to you what the prison director from Sztum did to the prisoners there”.
The prisoners also reported that correctional officers forced them to sign statements that they were non-smokers although they smoked cigarettes. Then, such prisoners were placed cells for non-smokers, which caused conflicts. The inmates were also forced to sign a declaration of giving up the possibility to serve the sentence in the semi-open regime (quote: „the correctional officers have a ready-made form to sign”; the form was s seen by the NMPT representatives in the prisoners’ documentation).
Informal penalties were also applied against the prisoners. For example, TV sets were taken away from them, or telephone conversations were not permitted. It was also mentioned that so-called “mixed cells” were created in which a prisoner unable to use the prison slang was placed together with the slang user, as a result of which he was to be “softened” if he was considered an “inconvenient prisoner”. Such prisoners were intimidated and their ill treatment was permitted (quote: „prisoners who represent the prison subculture abuse other inmates by making them wash their clothes and do the cleaning for them and by taking their food. It is accepted that non-users of the prison slang get smaller food portions so that larger amounts of food are given to the slang users”).
The prison staff should be given a strong signal by the superiors that all forms of ill treatment of prisoners (both physical and mental) are illegal and are subject to severe penalty. Such cases affect the image of the whole establishment and its staff and are conducive to stress and aggression, which in the long term affects all personal interactions and the effectiveness of therapeutic activities. The establishment managers should undertake systematic work to build an appropriate institutional culture in which violence against prisoners is perceived as unacceptable lack of professionalism and should encourage staff members to report ill-treatment cases. If cases of violence against prisoners are found, they should be reported as a suspected offence to the prosecutor’s office (in accordance with the requirement set out in Article 304(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure). Cases of misbehaviour of Prison Service officers should be reported to the Director General of the Prison Service in order to take relevant disciplinary action. Mechanisms should also be implemented for monitoring the staff’s work and emphasis should be placed on their training to provide them with effective tools for managing conflicts without the need to use force.”
Standpunt van de raadsman
De raadsman heeft zich op het standpunt gesteld dat onduidelijk is of de opgeëiste persoon in eenremand regimezal worden geplaatst en heeft hierbij verwezen naar een uitspraak van de rechtbank Amsterdam van 24 december 2024 (ECLI:NL:RBAMS:2024:8208). Gelet op het feit dat er een risico bestaat dat hij geplaatst wordt in eenremand regimeen voor dat regime een algemeen gevaar is aangenomen, dient het openbaar ministerie niet-ontvankelijk te worden verklaard. Subsidiair stelt de raadsman zich op het standpunt dat er nadere informatie moet worden opgevraagd aan de Poolse autoriteiten over waar de opgeëiste persoon gedetineerd zal worden in Polen. Standpunt van de officier van justitie
De officier van justitie heeft zich de rechtbank verzocht aan het verweer van de raadsman voorbij te gaan nu in het geval waarna de raadsman verwijst niet alleen sprake was van een executie EAB, maar ook een vervolgings-EAB. De officier van justitie heeft zich verder op het standpunt gesteld dat er geen algemeen reëel gevaar aangenomen kan worden , nu de kans dat de opgeëiste persoon in de gevangenis van Barczewo geplaatst zal worden statistisch gezien zeer klein is gelet op het grote aantal (te weten 99) gevangenissen in Polen. Mocht de rechtbank wel van oordeel zijn dat er vragen aan de uitvaardigende justitiële autoriteit gesteld dienen te worden, dan stelt de officier van justitie voor om enerzijds te vragen of de van het EJN ontvangen informatie over het plaatsingsbeleid van gedetineerden klopt en ook overeenkomstig de werkwijze in de praktijk is, en anderzijds hoe de situatie in de gevangenis van Barczewo op dit moment is.
De rechtbank overweegt dat in de uitspraak waarnaar de raadsman verwijst is opgenomen dat ten aanzien van die opgeëiste persoon naast het EAB waarop de uitspraak ziet, ook nog een ander EAB uitgevaardigd dat ziet op de vervolging van de opgeëiste persoon in Polen. In onderhavige zaak van de opgeëiste persoon is echter alleen een executie EAB tegen de opgeëiste persoon uitgevaardigd en geen vervolgings-EAB. Anders dan de raadsman heeft gesteld, zal de opgeëiste persoon na een eventuele overlevering dan ook niet in een
remand regimeworden geplaatst. Het verweer van de raadsman behoeft gelet daarop dan ook geen verdere bespreking.
Het NMPT schetst in haar rapport een situatie in de gevangenis van Barczewo die zeer zorgelijk is te noemen. Volgens het NMPT is er sprake van fysieke mishandeling en ook van andere vormen van wangedrag jegens gedetineerden in de gevangenis van Barczewo. Het rapport noemt in dit kader niet enkel verklaringen van gedetineerden, maar ook objectieve gegevens die die de verklaringen ondersteunen (zoals camerabeelden). Het lijkt daarbij niet enkel te gaan om incidenten, maar om structurele misstanden die het dagelijkse reilen en zeilen van de gevangenis van Barczewo lijken te bepalen. Tekenend acht de rechtbank in dat verband dat het NMPT rapporteert dat er in de gevangenis van Barczewo sinds 2021 geen (naar de rechtbank begrijpt: officiële) gevallen van “
applying coercive measures” zijn geweest, hetgeen volgens het NMPT uitzonderlijk is voor een dergelijke instelling. Het NMPT rapporteert over een strikt regime van discipline dat met gebruik van informele methodes wordt gehandhaafd. Het NMPT acht de verklaringen kennelijk voldoende geloofwaardig, althans ziet daarvoor voldoende ondersteuning, om meerdere stevige aanbevelingen te doen die ertoe strekken dat het geweldsprobleem in Barczewo systematisch wordt aangepakt en die leiden tot een omslag in de daar heersende institutionele cultuur. Gelet op de ernst van het geschetste beeld heeft de rechtbank in een andere zaak, ondanks dat het bezoek waarover in het rapport wordt gerapporteerd al van ruim twee jaar geleden is, per uitspraak van 16 januari 2025besloten het onderzoek in die zaak te heropenen om op dit punt vragen te stellen aan de uitvaardigende justitiële autoriteit. De rechtbank vraagt, kort samengevat, of de informatie van het EJN klopt, in welke gevangenis de opgeëiste persoon naar alle waarschijnlijkheid wordt geplaatst en wat de actuele situatie in Barczewo op dit moment is.
De rechtbank zal mede gelet hierop ook onderhavig onderzoek heropenen om aan de uitvaardigende justitiële autoriteit te vragen in welke gevangenis de opgeëiste persoon naar alle waarschijnlijkheid geplaatst zal worden na zijn eventuele overlevering naar Polen.
De rechtbank zal in deze zaak echter niet aan de uitvaardigende justitiële autoriteit vragen of de informatie van het EJN klopt en hoe de situatie in de gevangenis van Barczewo op dit moment is. De rechtbank wacht hierbij het antwoord van de uitvaardigende justitiële autoriteit af die gesteld zullen worden naar aanleiding van de uitspraak van 16 januari 2025. De rechtbank zal de statistische kansberekening van de officier van justitie buiten beschouwing laten omdat nog onduidelijk is waar de opgeëiste persoon naar alle waarschijnlijkheid geplaatst gaat worden.
De voor te leggen vraag is als volgt:
In welke gevangenis zal de opgeëiste persoon naar alle waarschijnlijkheid geplaatst worden na zijn eventuele overlevering naar Polen?