REDRESS is a human rights organisation that helps torture survivors obtain justice and reparation. REDRESS works with survivors to help restore their dignity and to make torturers accountable.
European Court of Human Rights finds in favour of migrant tortured in Greece17 January 2012 - The European Court of Human Rights has found that Greek coastguard officials tortured Necati Zontul, a UK/Turkish dual national, when he was raped in detention at the port of Chania, Crete, in 2001 and ordered Greece to pay 50,000 euro in compensation. The judgment in Zontul v. Greece confirmed that Greece breached Article 3 of the Convention (prohibition of torture) on account of the actions of the coastguard officials as well as the failures of the Greek authorities in the internal investigations and the criminal proceedings against the officials. The judgment was delivered on 17 January 2012. The Court considered that the rape of a detainee by an official of the State was an especially grave and abhorrent form of ill-treatment, amounting to torture in this case. Mr Zontul was in a boat travelling to Italy when it was intercepted by the Greek Coastguard and towed to Hania Harbour in Crete. Once there, the migrant detainees were kept in poor conditions of detention, with severe overcrowding and limited access to basic amenities. A coastguard trapped Mr Zontul in the toilets and forced him to remove his clothes. He then raped him with a truncheon. The Greek authorities were heavily criticised for their internal investigation of the incident, where they falsified the Applicant's evidence, recording the rape as a "slap" and "use of psychological violence". The Court also found that the criminal penalty imposed on the perpetrator of the rape, a suspended sentence commuted to a small fine, was insufficient. Carla Ferstman, director of REDRESS, who brought the application on behalf of Mr Zontul, said: "The Court recognised that rape can be a particularly cruel form of torture, and that Greece didn’t adequately punish the perpetrators or afford redress to Mr Zontul. We hope this judgment will lead to changes in the way that Greece handles such cases in future." Find the ECtHR's press release HERE. For further information, please contact Jehangir Jilani (jehangir@redress.org) or Eva Sanchis (eva@redress.org) at +44 (0) 20 7793 1777.
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Latest newsREDRESS is inviting applications for an expert meeting in KenyaREDRESS is inviting applications from lawyers or NGO experts in Sub-Saharan Africa with experience in assisting torture survivors. The meeting will take place on 10-12 May in Kenya. Travel and accommodation will be covered. Please apply by 10 March. Click the link for more information in English. Read the information in French HERE. ICJ ruling on state immunity, a blow to victims of human rights abuses3 February 2012 -The International Court of Justice has found that Germany is protected by state immunity from claims by victims of Nazi atrocities during World War II. Read REDRESS' statement HERE. Why the UK govt must get to the bottom of any complicity in torture30 January 2012 - Read Sir Emyr Jones Parry, Chair of REDRESS, op-ed in openDemocracy, where he discusses the abandonment of the Gibson inquiry and its initial flawed composition. Flawed Torture Inquiry scrapped: need remains to establish truth of UK complicity in torture18 January 2012 - REDRESS reacts to the news that the Detainee Inquiry into British complicity in torture will be abandoned by the Government following the launch of fresh criminal investigations into claims of ill-treatment in Libya. UNHRC: Sri Lanka is responsible for the death of torture victim16 January 2012 - The UN Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) has found that the Sri Lankan Government is responsible for the death of Sugath Nishanta Fernando, a torture victim of Negombo.
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