[25 June 2002]

 

 

 CONTENTS (by paragraphs)

Introduction ................................................................................................  1 - 2 

 

Article 1......................................................................................................  3 - 14 

 

Article 2......................................................................................................  15 - 22 

 

Article 3......................................................................................................  23 - 34 

 

Article 4......................................................................................................  35 - 43 

 

Article 5......................................................................................................  44 - 48 

 

Article 6......................................................................................................  49 - 52 

 

Article 7......................................................................................................  53 - 54 

 

Article 8......................................................................................................  55 - 58 

 

Article 9......................................................................................................  59 - 61 

 

Article 10....................................................................................................  62 - 67 

 

Article 11....................................................................................................  68 - 74 

 

Article 12....................................................................................................  75 - 77 

 

Article 13....................................................................................................  78 - 79 

 

Article 14....................................................................................................  80 - 82 

 

Article 15....................................................................................................  83 - 86 

 

Article 16....................................................................................................  87 - 94 

 

 

Introduction

 

1.                  The initial report of Latvia on the implementation of the 1984 Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (hereafter - the Convention), binding upon Latvia since 14 July 1992, is prepared in compliance with article 19 of the Convention. This initial report presents information concerning the period of time until 1 January 2002. The report is elaborated according to the general guidelines regarding the form and contents of initial reports adopted by the Committee against Torture (hereafter - the Committee) in 1991. 

 

2.                  A special working group was established to draft this report, representing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Welfare, the Ministry of Justice and the National Centre for the Protection of the Rights of the Child, and headed by a representative duly authorized by the Cabinet of Ministers pursuant to the “Regulations on Representation of the Cabinet of Ministers at International Human Rights Institutions” of 17 March 1998. The Report was examined and accepted by the Cabinet of Ministers on 11 June 2002.

 

Article 1

 

3.                  Article 89 of the Constitution of Latvia provides that “the State recognizes and protects basic human rights in accordance with this Constitution, the Laws and international agreements binding to Latvia”. Article 95, in its turn, stipulates that torture or other cruel or degrading treatment of human beings is prohibited and that nobody may be subjected to inhuman or degrading punishment.

 

4.                  Latvia is a State party to several international agreements prohibiting torture and other cruel or degrading treatment or punishment.  On 14 July 1992 the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights became binding upon Latvia; as of 27 June 1997, the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and its Protocols Nos. 1 and 4 (Protocol No. 6 became binding upon Latvia on 1 June 1999, Protocol No. 7 on 1 September 1997), as of 1 June 1998, the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and its Protocols No. 1 and No. 2.

 

5.                  The legal system of Latvia follows the doctrine of monism:  acts of international law, if they have passed through the relevant procedure (i.e. have been accepted by the Government and the Parliament), are recognized to be elements of the national system of law.  Besides, norms and principles of international law have priority over the norms of national law. This was already stipulated in the Declaration of 4 May 1990 “On Restoration of the Independence of the Republic of Latvia”, whose article 1 prescribes the predominance of fundamental principles of international law over national laws.  Under article 13 of the Law of 13 January 1994 “On International Agreements of the Republic of Latvia”, provisions of an international agreement apply if an international agreement that has been approved by the Saeima (Parliament) contains provisions different from those prescribed by legislative acts of the Republic of Latvia. In compliance with the laws and main legal principles of Latvia, norms of international agreements that have been ratified following the prescribed procedure can be applied directly in judicial proceedings.

 

6.                  The Supreme Court gave its explanation for the term “torture” in its plenum decision “On Application of Criminal Laws in Cases of Infliction of Intentional Bodily Injuries”, adopted on 1 March 1993, in which it indicated that “torment must be understood to mean actions that, committed by the guilty person, being aware of it, cause particularly strong pain to another person, physical or moral suffering (for example, leaving a person without food, drink, warmth for extended periods of time as well as placing or leaving a person in other conditions that are hazardous for health), while torture must be understood to mean actions that, committed by the guilty person, being fully aware of it, are characterized by multiple or prolonged acts, causing particular pain or suffering to victims (for example, whipping with rods, pinching, influence by thermal factors, pricking with sharp objects, etc.)”.

 

7.                  In the light of article 89 of the Constitution, which stipulates that human rights in Latvia are protected in accordance with the international agreement binding upon Latvia, and taking into account that international agreements are directly applicable in Latvia, the definition of the term “torture” given in article 1 of the Convention is directly applicable and is binding upon the State institutions of Latvia.

 

8.                  The prohibition of torture has been prescribed by several other legal acts that are in force. Thus, the Penal Law stipulates that upon the execution of any criminal penalty, the guarantees provided by law for the convicted person against torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment must be respected; that the objective of the execution of the penalty is not to cause physical suffering or to degrade human dignity, or to exclude the person from the community. Discrimination among convicts on the grounds of race, nationality, language, gender, social and material status, political views, religious affiliation or other criteria is not permissible, all convicts being equal before the law.

 

9.                  The Law “On Police” prescribes that a police officer must not commit or support any acts that involve torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. No police officer may refer to the order of a senior officer or such emergency situations as martial law or a threat of a war, a threat to national security, national domestic political instability or extraordinary circumstances in order to justify torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Likewise, the Law stipulates that the police officer is liable for unlawful action under the procedure prescribed by law and service regulations. Internal instructions for officers of the police service include norms prohibiting inhuman or degrading treatment. Disciplinary regulations prescribe the disciplinary liability of officers for various violations of service discipline. Heads of structural entities bear personal liability for compliance with the service authority of the personnel.

 

10.              The 1997 Medication Law stipulates that a patient has a right to quality, kind and respectful medical treatment and care. The Law in particular emphasizes that all civil, political, economic and social rights prescribed by law must be guaranteed also to persons with psychological disorders and mental afflictions and that such disorders must not be grounds for discrimination. The Law also stipulates that mental patients have the right to receive medical assistance and care of the quality that corresponds to the accepted general medical standards. Article 155 of the Criminal Law also prescribes liability for the illegal confinement of a person in a psychiatric hospital.  The possible penalty for this is deprivation of liberty for a term of up to two years, or custodial arrest, or a fine in the amount of up to 40 minimum monthly salaries, and deprivation of the right to a specific occupation for a term of up to five years. Since 1995 no crime provided by article 155 of the Criminal Law has been registered. In addition to the Medication Law, a new Psychiatric Assistance Law has been drafted and submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers. It should be noted that the full text of this draft law was annexed to the responses of the Government to the report of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) on its visit to Latvia from 24 January to 3 February 1999, which were examined in Strasbourg on 22 November 2001.

 

11.              The Criminal Law also prescribes liability for crimes involving the use of violence or torture. Article 74 of the Criminal Law prescribes that war crimes, that is, violation of the provisions and customs regarding the conduct of war prohibited by international agreements that are binding for Latvia, which has been manifested by the murder, torture, robbery, deportation or assignment to coercive labour of civilians, hostages and prisoners of war of the occupied territory, or the unjustified destruction of cities and other entities, are punished by life imprisonment or deprivation of liberty for a term of 3 to 20 years.

 

12.              Articles 125 and 126 of the Criminal Law prescribe liability for the infliction of an intentional serious bodily injury or an intentional moderate bodily injury if they had the character of torment or torture. Article 125 prescribes deprivation of liberty for a term of 3 to 12 years, while article 126 prescribes punishment by deprivation of liberty for a term of up to 8 years. Under article 130 of the Criminal Law “Intentional Slight Bodily Injury” regular beating that has the nature of torture or any other kind of torture, provided these actions have not had the consequences set out in articles 125 and 126 of the Law, are punished by deprivation of liberty for a term of up to three years or custodial arrest, or community service, or a fine in the amount of up to 60 minimum monthly salaries.

 

13.              Article 294 of the Criminal Law provides as a punishment deprivation of liberty for a term of up to 10 years for compelling to testify at an interrogation, if it involves violence, a threat of violence, humiliation of the interrogated person, or has been committed in any other way, and if it has been committed by the pre-trial investigator. Article 338 “Violence against a Subordinate” of chapter XXV of the Criminal Law “Criminal Offences Committed during Military Service” in turn prescribes liability for the infliction of intentional moderate bodily injury to a subordinate as well as of other acts which have the nature of torture.  The penalty for such acts is deprivation of liberty for a term of up to eight years. In 2001 three crimes provided by article 338 of the Criminal Law have been registered. Under article 340 of the Criminal Law a person is criminally liable for the battery and torture of a military serviceman. The maximum penalty for such acts, if they involve the infliction of serious bodily injury, is deprivation of liberty for a term of 3 to 12 years.

 

14.              The compensation available to the persons who considers himself/herself to be the victim of torture, as well as the right to complain to the competent authorities, are described in paragraphs 78-82 of the present report (comments concerning articles 13-14).

Article 2

 

15.              Overview of legal acts in force prohibiting torture and providing for punishment for such actions is given in paragraph 3 and paragraphs 8-13 of the present report. According to the legal acts in force, the right not to be tortured may not be restricted.

15.

16.              Article 116 of the Constitution contains an exhaustive list of human rights which may be subject to restrictions in cases provided by law with the purpose of protecting the rights of other persons, the democratic system, public security, welfare and morality. These rights are the right of an individual to the inviolability of privacy, residence and correspondence, the right to free movement in the territory of Latvia and to choose one’s domicile, the right to freely leave Latvia, the right to freedom of speech and opinion, the right to have free access to information and to disseminate it, the right to freedom of association and meetings, the right to freely choose one’s occupation, the right to strike, as well as the right to expression of one’s religious conviction.  In addition to article 116, article 105 of the Constitution provides restrictions on the right to property. Thus, the right not to be tortured provided by article 95 of the Constitution may not be subject to any restrictions.

 

17.              Also, the 1992 Law “On State of Emergency” exhaustively defines the permissible restrictions if a state of emergency has been proclaimed. The said Law allows the following restrictions:

 

 (a) A special procedure for entry into and departure from the country, as well as restrictions on movement;

 

 (b) Reinforced protection of public order and of specific objects;

 

 (c) Prohibition on the organization of meetings, rallies, street marches and demonstrations as well as other mass events;

 

 (d) Prohibition of strikes;

 

 (e) Restrictions on the movement of transport vehicles and the inspection of transport vehicles.

 

If a state of emergency has been proclaimed in view of internal riots that have broken out or are about to break out, the following restrictions may be imposed in addition to the above-mentioned:

 

 (f) Imposition of a curfew;

 

 (g) Censorship or suspension of the mass media; seizure of their printing and duplication equipment;

 

 (h) Suspension of the operation of political parties and other non-governmental organizations if they create obstacles to the implementation of the state of emergency;

 

 (i) Conduct of examination of the documents of individuals; inspection of individuals and the property in their possession if there is information that these individuals posses weapons;

 

 (j) Restriction or prohibition of the sale of weapons, highly effective chemical and poisonous substances and alcoholic beverages, as well as temporary seizure of those articles from natural and legal persons;

 

 (k) Expulsion of violators of public order who are not permanent residents of the area where the state of emergency has been proclaimed.

 

18.              The Law particularly emphasizes that the proclamation of a state of emergency does not repeal the operation of those laws that regulate the use of physical force, special means and firearms against natural persons. Officials and other persons are liable criminally, administratively and disciplinary in complying with the procedure prescribed by the law for violations of laws and the abuse of the state of emergency.  The Prosecutor General of the Republic of Latvia and prosecutors subordinated to the Prosecutor General exercise oversight over compliance with laws during a state of emergency.

 

19.              It must be emphasized that a state of emergency has never been proclaimed since the restoration of independence.

 

20.              According to article 34 of the Criminal Law, execution of a criminal command or a criminal order is to be considered as excluding criminal liability, provided the person executing said command or order was not aware of the criminal nature of the command or order and it was not obvious. However, the above-mentioned article emphasizes that criminal liability applies if a crime against humanity and peace, war crimes or genocide was committed.

 

21.              A similar provision has also been included in the Law “On Police”, whose article 27 stipulates that deliberate execution of an unlawful command or order does not exempt the police officer from criminal liability. It is underlined in the same article that no police officer may refer to the order of a senior officer or such emergency situations as martial law or a threat of a war, a threat to national security, national domestic political instability or extraordinary circumstances in order to justify torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

 

22.              The table below presents information on the registered and detected crimes provided in the articles of the Criminal Code (CC) and the Criminal Law (CL) referred to in the present report, between 1995 and 2001.

 

 

 

	1995		1996		1997		1998		1999		2000		2001
CL/CC	reg.	det.	reg.	det.	reg.	det.	reg.	det.	reg.	det.	reg.	det.	reg.	det.
Art. 74/68.3.	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	1	-	-	-	-	-	-
Art. 125/105	597	341	467	298	500	349	427	305	429	279	424	272	367	238
Art. 126/106	414	189	394	210	372	226	395	245	393	239	421	225	462	250
Art. 130/109	25	18	28	16	18	17	62	57	124	78	128	95	184	146
Art. 139/223	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Art. 155/125	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Art. 294/172	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-
Art. 338	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	3
Art. 340/235	5	2	31	17	36	30	26	22	16	9	16	7	18	9

 

Notes: Article 74 of the Criminal Law, article 68.3. of the Criminal Code - War crimes;

 

Article 125 of the Criminal Law, article 105 of the Criminal Code - Intentional serious bodily injury;

 

Article 126 of the Criminal Law, article 106 of the Criminal Code - Intentional moderate bodily injury;

 

Article 130 of the Criminal Law - Intentional slight bodily injury, article 109 of the Criminal Code - Deliberately inflicted (intentional) slight bodily injury;

 

Article 139 of the Criminal Law - Illegal removal of human tissue or organs, article 223.1. of the Criminal Code - Illegal removal of tissue or organs from living or dead humans;

 

Article 155 of the Criminal Law, article 125.2. of the Criminal Code - Illegal confinement of a person in a psychiatric hospital;

 

Article 294 of the Criminal Law, article 172 of the Criminal Code - Compulsion to testify;

 

Article 338 of the Criminal Law - Violence against a subordinate;

 

Article 340 of the Criminal Law - Battery and torture of a military serviceman;

 

Article 235 of the Criminal Code - Battery and torture of a soldier.

 

Article 3

 

23.              According to the legal acts in force, a person who is in Latvia may be expelled to another country and may be extradited for criminal prosecution, trial or serving of sentence; the person may be readmitted if the person has entered or stayed in Latvia illegally.

 

24.              In accordance with the legal acts in force, a person is expelled if an expulsion order has been issued with respect to that person in a procedure prescribed by law, or if the court has imposed expulsion as an additional penalty. Article 36 of the Criminal Law provides that expulsion from Latvia is one of the possible additional penalties imposed on a person found guilty of the commission of a crime. The application of this penalty is regulated by article 43 of the Criminal Law that stipulates that a citizen of another country or a person who has a permanent residence permit of another country may be expelled from the Republic of Latvia if court finds that, taking into consideration the circumstances of the case and the personality of the offender, his/her stay in Latvia is not permissible. The same article also stipulates that this penalty - expulsion from the country - is imposed as an additional penalty and is enforced only after the primary penalty has been served.

 

25.              The Law “On Entry and Stay of Foreigners and Stateless Persons in the Republic of Latvia” (art. 38) regulates the expulsion of foreigners and stateless persons in cases when the foreigner or the stateless person stays in the country without a valid visa or a residence permit, or if the person has otherwise violated the visa regime, or if the residence permit issued to the foreigner or the stateless person has been annulled owing to the following reasons:

 

(a) The person has submitted knowingly false information to the Citizenship and Migration Board, has violated rules of the immigration regime or has lost legitimate grounds for staying in Latvia;

 

(b) The person has been found guilty of the commission of a crime by a court judgement that has become effective;

 

(c) Competent public institutions have reasonable grounds to suspect that the said person poses a threat to public order and safety or national security;

 

(d) The person has no legal source of income;

 

(e) The person is active in a totalitarian, terrorist or other organization using violent methods that does not recognize the public system of the Republic of Latvia, or is a member of any secret anti-government or criminal organization;

 

(f) The person has entered the military or other public service of a foreign country, except in cases when this is provided by international agreements;

 

(g) The person has repeatedly failed to comply with regulations for the registration of the residence permit;

 

(h) The person has entered into fictitious marriage with a citizen or non-citizen of Latvia or a foreigner or a stateless person who has a permanent residence permit, with the purpose of forming grounds for the receipt of a permanent residence permit;

 

(i) The person has terminated studies or training which had been the grounds for the issue of a fixed-term residence permit;

 

(j) The person has terminated employment relations which had been the grounds for the receipt of a residence permit;

 

(k) The person has divorced a citizen or non-citizen of Latvia or a foreigner or a stateless person who has received a permanent residence permit;

 

(l) The person has been hired without an appropriate permit;

 

(m) The person has received compensation for leaving Latvia for permanent residence abroad, irrespective of whether the compensation has been paid by State or municipal institutions of Latvia or international (foreign) foundations or institutions.

 

26.