Podgorica, (MINA) – The Government of Montenegro, ahead of the country’s EU accession, has been ignoring decades-long problems in prisons and hospitals, the Human Rights Action (HRA) stated following the publication of the Preliminary Findings of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT).

The HRA said they welcome that the Government approved the publication of the Preliminary Findings, but noted that it had only responded to seven urgent recommendations, without addressing the long-term systemic problems that the CPT has been warning about since 2008.

According to this NGO, the responses to the CPT were submitted by the Administration for the Execution of Criminal Sanctions (UIKS), regarding five urgent recommendations related to remand prisons, and the Ministry of Social Welfare, Family Care and Demography, regarding one urgent recommendation each for the Ljubovic and Komanski Most centers.

“However, the Ministry of Justice, which supervises the work of UIKS, and the Ministry of Health, responsible for the Special Hospital for Psychiatry Dobrota, have not issue any statements, even though the CPT expressed serious criticism regarding the situation in both institutions”, HRA said.

The HRA recalls that this is the final benchmark for closing Chapter 23 in the negotiations with the EU and proposed that the Government allow the CPT to automatically publish the full visit report as soon as it is prepared in July.