OSCE Mission to Skopje supports training Ombudsman staff to monitor police stations

SKOPJE, 29 September 2008 - Strengthening the capacity of the Ombudsman Institution to monitor police custody facilities is the aim of a training course, supported by the OSCE Mission, which started in Skopje today.

The course follows on a visit by the European Committee for Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), which observed poor conditions in the police stations' detention cells. The three-day course will be conducted by experts from the CPT and the Association for Prevention of Torture, engaged with the help of the OSCE Spillover Monitor Mission to Skopje.

"The training course will contribute to strengthening the human resource capacities of the Ombudsman institution to carry out effective monitoring of police stations in line with international standards and domestic legislation," said Jovdat Mammedov, Deputy Head of the Rule of Law Department at the OSCE Mission.