Seychelles counters torture claims after historic report |07 August 2018
Seychelles was 25 years late in submitting its initial report to the United Nations Committee Against Torture (CAT) so rapporteurs had to depend on others sources of information which they said may not be reliable.
A strong country delegation headed by prisons superintendent Raymond St Ange countered incorrect information during a video conference it held with the UN officials in Geneva on July 31, giving facts and figures.
The delegation included representatives from the prison, the police, the attorney general’s office and the Department of Foreign Affairs.
The UN team said a first report is always good news, and they were happy this country is no longer listed among 25 countries out of the 164 state parties to the convention that had not sent their reports.
Seychelles ratified the convention in 1992 and an initial report was due within one year, but has been saying the delay to submit it was caused by lack of manpower and financial resources.
It was the first time that CAT reviewed a country report via video conference.
Seychelles delegation said our laws do not allow torture even in times of emergency and although there is no specific law against the crime, related offences can be prosecuted under the Penal Code and other laws.
They told the CAT rapporteurs that upon suspects’ arrest, they are informed the reasons why they are being apprehended, their right to remain silent and to be represented by a lawyer, and children arrested are allowed to contact a parent or guardian, but if he or she is implicated in the reason for arrest, social services officials are called in.
Nobody should be detained beyond the 24-hour period stipulated in the law, but the delegation said that persons caught during the weekend or just before a public holiday can legally be kept in custody beyond 24 hours.
Chagossians displaced in 1967 have successfully applied for Seychelles citizenship, and enjoy similar rights as do other Seychellois, the delegation said, but a few are yet to naturalise because of lack of necessary documents.
Mr St Ange said there are a total of 393 people either serving their sentences or in detention pending trial, and neither the male nor the female wing of the prison is overcrowded. He gave the example of the women’s prison which has a capacity for 60 inmates but currently has only six occupants.
He said the women have access to facilities where they can exercise, contrary to claims the rapporteurs said they had received.
Mr St Ange said there is special accommodation for women inmates with babies, but it is currently not occupied.
He said women inmates are considered for parole alongside their male counterparts and all inmates have access to health services, adding that a Somali who allegedly died in his motherland could not have succumbed to ill treatment he might have received in Seychelles before deportation.
Some convicted Somali prisoners had opted to complete their sentences in Seychelles, rather than in UN supervised jails in Somalia.
The constitution mandates the President of the Republic to assign military officers various tasks, the delegation said, and may be involved in the maintenance of law and order, but when they are:
“The police are at the forefront when the military officers join forces with the police during operations, and should the soldiers make arrests in rare circumstances and as a last resort, they would do so in the form of ‘citizen’s arrests’ as allowed by the country’s constitution.”
Corporal punishment for students is banned, and given that the constitution does not allow for the death penalty, any subsidiary laws making reference to capital punishment will be revised to be in line with the constitution, said the delegation.