A/HRC/22/39
C.
Administration of justice and detention conditions
22.
The administration of justice faces many challenges in terms of compliance with the
State’s national and international human rights obligations – for example, the independence
and effectiveness of the judiciary, access to justice and improvements to the physical and
legal conditions of detention. In her previous reports, the High Commissioner
recommended speeding up the judicial reform launched in 2011. In that connection, the
Government has taken measures to reorganize judicial districting, by recruiting 50 trainee
judges, strengthen the criminal justice system, tighten prosecutorial oversight of the police,
by training 729 investigative police officers, and build capacity among justice officials
regarding human rights, with the support of OHCHR. In addition, the Government intends
to give priority to the judicial aspect of the reform of the security sector, especially as
regards strengthening the independence of the judiciary, by revising the Act on the
Supreme Council of Justice and applying the regulations governing the judiciary.
23.
Nevertheless, the shortage of courts, the uneven distribution of justice officials and
the lack of financial resources hamper public access to justice. Some are discouraged by the
distance to court: there are only two appellate courts countrywide. Others blame the
financial cost, which is prohibitive as there is no budget for legal aid. These barriers, in
combination with the uneven distribution of lawyers, perpetuate the public’s lack of
confidence in the justice system to solve their legal problems.
24.
The length of pretrial detention and physical detention conditions are also a cause
for concern. In 2012, an average of 65 per cent of the inmates of Nzérékoré prison were in
pretrial detention, and 75 per cent in Conakry. Moreover, the lengthy nature of judicial
proceedings creates situations of arbitrary detention insofar as statutory time limits, set at
four months for minor offences and six months for serious offences, are not observed.
OHCHR also came across instances of unlawful detention of people who have served their
sentence, or as a means of making someone pay a fine, although efforts have been made in
practice to ensure that the legal limits on custody in police and gendarmerie cells are
observed. In 2012, OHCHR observed that suspects are no longer held in police custody for
several months before being brought before a judge. This is the result of regular visits by
OHCHR to places of detention and its training programmes for investigative police officers
and judges responsible for compliance with limits on police custody.
25.
Physical detention conditions need to be improved to meet the Standard Minimum
Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. For example, inadequate infrastructure in certain
places of detention, such as Yomou prison in Guinée Forestière and some gendarmerie and
police cells, means that men are not separated from women or minors from adults. As a
result, some places of detention are at 200 per cent of real capacity.
D.
Combating impunity
26.
The international commission of inquiry tasked with establishing the facts and
circumstances of the events of 28 September 2009 recommended inter alia that the United
Nations urge Guinea to prosecute those responsible and provide reparation to the victims.
The High Commissioner repeated this recommendation in her previous report and invited
the Government to take the necessary measures to assist the judges investigating these
violations.
27.
The team of judges formed in 2010 by the prosecuting authority of Conakry to
investigate the violations committed in September 2009 moved forward on its mandate in
2012. On 1 February, it indicted Lieutenant Colonel Moussa Tiégboro Camara, Director of
the National Agency against Drugs, Organized Crime and Terrorism, the international
8
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