07/12/2007 Legal Affairs and Human Rights
, 07.12.2007 – Dick Marty, Chair of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) welcomes the moves in the two houses of the US Congress towards banning the CIA from using coercive interrogation methods such as “waterboarding”, the use of dogs and sexual humiliation.
“They are purely and simply torture techniques. They violate the international obligations of the in the field of human rights and are totally unworthy of this great democracy.”
In this context, Mr Marty condemns the destruction by the CIA of the recordings of coercive interrogations of suspected terrorists. “As a former public prosecutor, I regard the destruction of evidence as an unlawful act. The use of official secrecy by governments to evade judicial or parliamentary scrutiny is an increasingly common practice, not only in the . If human rights are to be protected, and if the fight against terrorism is to be credible and hence effective, the courts and parliaments must be able to perform their functions fully”, he said.