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Reply to Written question | Doc. 11707 | 17 September 2008
Secret detentions and illegal transfers of detainees in Europe
1. The honourable
member refers to the reply to Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 1801 (2007) on secret detentions and illegal transfers of detainees
involving Council of Europe member states.
2. The Committee of Ministers has few comments to add to that
reply. It does wish, nevertheless, to underline that the reply sets
out – very clearly – governments’ obligations under the European
Convention on Human Rights, notably to prevent human rights violations
and, if they have occurred, to carry out independent and impartial
investigations and to bring to justice those responsible for serious
violations.
3. The Committee of Ministers would like to draw the honourable
member’s attention to the fact that the second of two studies, which
it commissioned from the Venice Commission in the context of its
reply to Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 1713 (2005), was adopted at the Commission’s 74th Plenary Session
(Venice, 14-15 March 2008) (Document CDL-AD(2008)004). The report
concerns democratic control of the armed forces and complements
a previous report on democratic oversight of the security services
in member states. These texts have both been transmitted to the
governments of member states; they are available on the website
of the Venice Commission: www.venice.coe.int/docs/2008/CDL-AD (2008)004-e.asp.