CONSIDERATION OF REPORTS SUBMITTED BY STATES PARTIES UNDER ARTICLE
19 OF THE CONVENTION
Initial reports of States parties due in 1993
Addendum
MONACO
[14 March 1994]
1. The Constitution
of 17 December 1962 solemnly affirms its commitment to the values
upheld by the Convention and declares in particular:
Article 2, paragraph
2: "The Principality is a State ruled by law and devoted
to respect for fundamental liberties and rights";
Article 19, paragraph
1: "Individual freedom and security are guaranteed. No one
may be prosecuted except in cases provided for by law, before
legally appointed judges and in the manner prescribed by law";
Article 20, paragraph
1: "No penalty may be introduced or applied except by law";
Article 20, paragraph
2: "Criminal law must ensure respect for human personality
and dignity. No one may be subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment".
These fundamental
principles are implemented in the Monegasque Penal Code and Code of
Penal Procedure.
2. In accordance
with the terms of the Convention (arts. 1 and 16), criminal legislation
prohibits any "public official or other person acting in an official
capacity" from engaging in acts of torture, i.e. acts whereby
"severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally
inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him ...
information or a confession, punishing him for an act he ... has committed
or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him
..., or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind",
or from engaging in "other acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment".
3. Book III,
Chapter II, of the Penal Code, entitled "Infringements of freedom",
contains the following provisions:
(a) Article
72 prescribes civic dishonour for any public official or government
agent who has ordered or committed any arbitrary act that constitutes
an infringement of either individual freedom or of the laws and institutions
of the Principality;
(b) Article
74 punishes by civic dishonour any public official responsible for
the administrative or judicial police who refuses to register or neglects
to act on a lawful complaint reporting any arbitrary detention and
who is unable to justify his failure to report it to higher authority.
4. Chapter
III, paragraph V, of the Penal Code, entitled "Abuse of authority",
contains the following provisions:
(a) Article
123 lays down a prison sentence for any administrative or judicial
official, judicial or police officer, or officer or agent of the forces
of law and order guilty of unlawful entry into the home;
(b) Articles
126 and 137 lay down severer penalties for crimes or offences committed
by a civil servant, public official, officer responsible for enforcing
judicial warrants or decisions, commander in chief or officer of lower
rank in the forces of law and order who, in the course of his duties
or in connection with them, commits or orders violence to be committed
against individuals; the crimes and offences against individuals that
may degenerate into acts of torture or constitute cruel treatment
are the following: homicide, murder, poisoning, death threats or threats
of physical violence, the various forms of deliberately striking and
wounding (depending on whether they lead to an individual being incapacitated
from work, mutilation, amputation, blindness, a serious permanent
handicap or death), breaches of morals, unlawful arrest and abduction,
which may be associated with threats of death or torture.
5. In addition
to the perpetrators of these crimes, any persons who by gift, promise,
threat or abuse of authority or power cause such acts to be committed
or issue instructions for their committal, persons who have obtained
the instruments used to commit them, and persons who have aided or
abetted the perpetrators in preparing or carrying out their act are
also liable to punishment for complicity (Penal Code, arts. 41 and
42).
6. Monegasque
penal procedure establishes strict respect for fundamental rights
and freedoms, and more specifically for the rights of the defence.
Should a public official be accused of having committed the crimes
and offences described above, they are immediately investigated, as
appropriate pursuant to a complaint by and at the initiative of any
person who considers himself a victim thereof, prosecuted in accordance
with the law and tried by the ordinary courts (criminal court, correctional
court), with a constant concern to ensure impartiality and verify
the reliability of the evidence. The penalties handed down (basically
imprisonment and a fine) exclude physical punishment and any cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment.
7. Article
14 of the Convention requires any State party to ensure that the victim
of an act of torture obtains redress and has an enforceable right
to fair compensation. The Monegasque legal system provides for such
compensation through a claim for damages against the perpetrator of
the offence.
8. Article
8 of the Convention deals with extradition and stipulates that offences
connected with torture are deemed to be included as extraditable offences
in any extradition treaty existing between States parties or, in the
absence of a treaty, recognized as extraditable offences. These provisions
are identical to those contained in the Geneva Protocol of 25 March
1972 amending the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 30 March
1961, to which Monaco has acceded.
9. To conclude,
current Monegasque legislation is manifestly inspired by the same
ideals regarding the dignity of the human person and universal and
effective respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms as those
set out in the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other
Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
10. The implementation
of these precepts poses no particular difficulties in the Principality.
