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The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) has today published the report on its visit to Portugal, which took place from 20 to 27 November 2024, together with the response of the Portuguese Government. During the visit, the CPT examined the treatment afforded to persons deprived of their liberty by the Public Security Police (PSP), the National Republican Guard (GNR) and the Judicial Police (JP). It also looked into the effectiveness of disciplinary and criminal investigations into possible cases of ill-treatment by law enforcement officials.
In its report, the CPT noted the decreased prevalence of allegations of ill-treatment by law enforcement officials as compared with previous visits. Nevertheless, a number of allegations of physical ill-treatment, including excessive use of force upon apprehension, were received. The alleged ill-treatment consisted primarily of slaps, punches, kicks to the body and/or head and, occasionally, the use of batons. The allegations also included being thrown against a wall, exerting pressure to the head with the foot, or to the neck with a knee or a baton, despite the apprehended persons having already been brought under control. A few instances of threats, verbal abuse and humiliating acts were also reported.
The Portuguese authorities should therefore remain vigilant and pursue their efforts, in line with a policy of “zero tolerance”, in order to completely root out police ill-treatment, notably by improving the reporting of such cases both internally and to the relevant investigative bodies, and by providing appropriate training to law enforcement officials. Strengthening the effective implementation of a number of safeguards, such as the display of visible means of individual identification by law enforcement officials, including for those in special intervention units, the use of body-worn video cameras by officers, and the installation of CCTV systems in police stations and detention facilities, should likewise be pursued.
Allegations of both excessively tight handcuffing upon apprehension, from detained persons whose injury reports upon admission to prison indicated the consistent presence of marks on the wrists, and of prolonged handcuffing continued to be received. The practices of handcuffing detained persons to fixed objects in police stations and of transporting apprehended persons with their hands cuffed behind their backs were also found to persist. The CPT recommends that action be taken to end these practices.
The CPT highlights as an example of good practice an interagency protocol concluded in 2023 which brought about improvements with respect to the detection of possible cases of ill-treatment by law enforcement officials upon the detained persons’ admission to prisons and to the reporting of such cases by prison establishments to the relevant disciplinary bodies, namely the Inspectorate-General for Internal Administration (IGAI) and the Inspectorate-General of Justice Services (IGSJ). However, action is still required to improve the quality of the injury reports drawn up by prison nurses, to whom this responsibility has been delegated, and of the related documentation (body charts and photographs).
As regards the conduct of related disciplinary investigations, IGAI responded promptly to reports of possible cases of ill-treatment received from prison establishments, and interviewed the detained persons concerned by videoconference, in general within 48 hours. The CPT makes several recommendations about IGAI securing access to forensic medical evidence and having sufficient staff.
As regards criminal investigations, flaws in the criminal justice system’s response to allegations or information indicative of ill-treatment by law enforcement officials persist. These carry a risk of undermining public confidence in the Portuguese authorities’ adherence to the rule of law.
In this regard, the CPT continued to find omissions on the part of prison establishments and on the part of IGAI and IGSJ to report possible cases of ill-treatment by law enforcement officials to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, as well as cases in which allegations or information indicative of ill-treatment had not been acted upon, or insufficiently promptly, by this service. The CPT further highlights the need to improve the communication and information-sharing between criminal and disciplinary investigative bodies, especially in those cases where disciplinary and criminal proceedings run in parallel.
As regards fundamental safeguards against ill-treatment, the CPT found that in general the rights of notification of custody and of access to a doctor operate effectively. Nevertheless, concerns remain about the detained persons’ and their lawyers’ ready access to relevant medical reports, and about the practice of some hospitals of distributing copies of such reports to the police without the patients’ permission, in breach of medical confidentiality. As regards access to a lawyer, this right does not appear to be guaranteed to persons placed in police custody in all cases from the very outset of the deprivation of liberty, that is from the moment they are obliged to remain with the police. In particular, as highlighted by the CPT in previous reports, the right of access to a lawyer remains dependent upon the person in police custody having been formally granted defendant status. Further, information on these three rights was not uniformly and comprehensively provided to these persons, as of that same moment. The report includes recommendations of remedial actions to be taken to address all these shortcomings.
In their response, the Portuguese authorities notably set out the steps taken or envisaged to implement several recommendations made by the CPT in the report.
These include the provision of training by the national forensic medical institution to prison healthcare staff and further practical measures aimed at enhancing the quality of the injury reports and related documentation; interagency consultations which took place to clarify the powers of IGAI and IGSJ to request forensic medical examinations in relevant cases, followed by the conclusion of an addendum to include the national forensic medical institution as a party to the above-mentioned 2023 protocol and to formalise the procedures to be followed; and measures to ensure that cases where injuries indicative of ill-treatment are detected upon admission to prisons are swiftly communicated to the prosecutorial authorities.
Further, information is provided on the training offered to PSP and GNR officers to comply with human rights standards and on the initial training provided to JP inspectors on interview and interrogation techniques.
Source, text and photo – the CPT
