In its Concluding observations the Committee Against Torture expressed its concern as to
the inadequate investigation conducted by authorities in relation to allegations of excessive
use of force by law enforcement personnel in April 2007. The government received a
number of recommendations as to the future investigation of similar allegations.
The Committee is also worried by information suggesting that conditions in some prisons
and police arrest houses are unacceptable and by critical information reported by the
Chancellor of Justice. The Committee is of opinion that Estonia should take immediate
steps to improve the material conditions in all prisons and police arrest houses, including
recently built ones.
European Court of Human Rights delivered three dozens of rulings confirming Estonia’s
violations of the Convention. As least three decisions deal with the conditions of detention:
unlawful confinement to restraint beds, the size of cells in the Tallinn jail is below permitted
minimum, use of pepper spray against prisoners in a confined space.
During the last months, my organization discovered cases of lengthy – from 9 months to
400 days – detention in the punishment cell, which undoubtedly can be seen as cruel
treatment.
Obtaining information in the language known by prisoners constitute an acute problem.
Internet is the most popular and accessible source of information for everyone, including
prisoners. Access is governed by the Imprisonment Act. Under Art. 31(1) prisoners can
access public legislation databases and register of judicial decisions under the
supervision of the prison service. It should be noted that the above-mentioned databases
contain information only in Estonian. Prisoners cannot connect to the web sites containing
legislation and information on the most up-to-date problems in Russian, which are
developed and administered by the Ministry of Justice.
In cooperation with the Tallinn City Council ICHR published a brochure in Russian for
prisoners. It contains explanations of the most important pieces of legislation, requirements
for complaints, translation of application forms for state legal aid and other information
contributing to the improvement of legal awareness and protection of Russian-speaking
prisoners in Estonia.
Lack of the necessary legal information in Russian preserves the vicious circle of social
tension, as the number of Russian-speaking prisoners significantly exceeds the number of
Estonian-speaking while Russian-speakers constitute only around 1/3 of the country’s
population.
2. ICHR is concerned about the discrepancies in construction of certain legal notions,
specifically, the notion of genocide in Estonia differs from the one accepted in
International law.