Liberia Publications

Law on Legal Aid (2011)

Loi n°136/AN/11/6ème L relative à l’aide judiciaire

Tanzania Univseral Periodic Review National Report to the UN Human Rights Council

The Tanzania Government with the support of the United Nations under the one UN system, held several consultative workshops for purposes of gathering information on the situation of human rights for inclusion in this National Report. The report indicates that Tanzania retains the death penalty.

The Transitional Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan, 2011

"Freedom from Torture 18. No person shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Fair Trial 19. (1) An accused person is presumed to be innocent until his or her guilt is proved according to the law. (2) Any person who is arrested shall be informed, at the time of arrest, of the reasons for his or her arrest and shall be promptly informed of any charges against him or her. (3) In all civil and criminal proceedings, every person shall be entitled to a fair and public hearing by a competent court of law in accordance with procedures prescribed by aw. (4) A person arrested by the police as part of an investigation, may be held in detention, for a period not exceeding 24 hours and if not released on bond to be produced in court. The court has authority to either remand the accused in prison or to release him or her on bail. (5) No person shall be charged with any act or omission which did not constitute an offence at the time of its commission. (6) Every accused person shall be entitled to be tried in his or her presence in any criminal trial without undue delay; the law shall regulate trial in absentia. (7) Any accused person has the right to defend himself or herself in person or through a lawyer of his or her own choice or to have legal aid assigned to him or her by the government where he or she cannot afford a lawyer to defend him or her in any serious offence."

S v Madzokere and Others [2011] ZWHHC 154

"The release of an accused person on bail is aimed at enabling him to attend trial from out of custody. It does not mean he or she has no case to answer. On the other hand the detention of an accused in custody is to secure his or her attendance to stand trial, if there are genuine grounds for believing that the factors mentioned in section 117 (2) have been established against him. That is why the seriousness of the charge the accused is facing is not on its own enough to deny an accused person bail. The court must therefore endevour to strike a balance between the interests of justice, and the accused’s liberty. Section 117 (1) leans in favour of the liberty of the accused person, hence the use of the words, “shall be entitled to be released on bail at any time after he or she has appeared in court on a charge and before sentence is imposed, unless the court finds that it is in the interests of justice that he or she should be detained in custody.” The intention of the legislature was obviously to make s 117 consistent with the presumption of the accused’s innocence until proved guilty. That proof or lack of it can only be established at the accused’s trial."

30 Days/Dae/Izinsuku July 2011

This month's media reports focusses on the topics of unsentenced prisoners, prison conditions, parole and sentencing and governance and corruption.

Pre-trial Detention and Torture: Why Pretrial Detainees Face the Greatest Risk

This paper is part of a series of papers examining the impact of excessive pretrial detention. In addition to the socioeconomic impact of pretrial detention, the papers in the series look at the intersection of pretrial detention and public health, torture, and corruption.

Joseph Amoshima v The State, Supreme Court of Nigeria, Abuja, 17 June 2011

Death sentence constitutional in Nigeria: “It is settled law also that where a statute prescribes a mandatory sentence in clear terms as in the instant case, the courts are without jurisdiction to impose anything less than the mandatory sentence as no discretion exists to be exercised in the matter. It is a duty imposed by law.”

La Constitution Marocain de 2011

This is the French version of the Moroccan Constitution approved in a referendum in July 2011.

Mphembedzu v The Republic, Bail Case No.70 of 2011, High Court of Malawi

Chimwemwe Mphembedzu at 15 was arrested on suspicion of homicide. He was remanded in prison for four years when he contracted a life-threatening illness. His application for bail, some four years after arrest, succeeded, and was partly based on custody time limits provided for in section 161F of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Code.

Imprisoned and imperiled: access to HIV and TB prevention and treatment, and denial of human rights, in Zambian prisons

Journal of the International AIDS Society 2011, 14:8. "To better understand the relationship between prison conditions, the criminal justice system, and HIV and TB in Zambian prisons, we conducted a mixed-method study, including: facility assessments and in-depth interviews with 246 prisoners and 30 prison officers at six Zambian prisons; a review of Zambian legislation and policy governing prisons and the criminal justice system; and 46 key informant interviews with government and non-governmental organization officials and representatives of international agencies and donors."

A citizen's handbook on the law governing bail in Uganda

This is a publication of the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (FHRI) and seeks to be a resource to the justice sector and legal profession, as well as a useful guide to the general public on the application of bail in Uganda.

Arbitrary detention of actual or perceived supporters of Laurent Gbagbo

This Amnesty International reports is concerns a number of individuals held at the Pergola Hotel and possibly other locations may be prisoners of conscience, held solely because of their actual or perceived political opinions.

Zimbabwe at the Crossroads

by Takawira Musavengana, OpenSpace Issue 1 June 2011 page 28 "Security Sector - No transition without transformation"

Submission by CSPRI to Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans on the Implementation of the Geneva Conventions Bill B10-2011.pdf

The submission deals with the Implementation of the Geneva Conventions Bill and addresses: lack of a definition of “grave breaches”; the criminalisation of all breaches not of a grave nature; the need to determine the sentence; and applicable law.

Police Station Visitors' Week Report, Nigeria 2011

The fifth edition of Police Station Visitors' Week (PSVW) was conducted from 31st of October to 6th of November, 2011 in Nigeria. Eight hundred and fifty-four (854) visitors in teams of three people inspected 261 police stations in six police State Commands, namely: Akwa Ibom, FCT, Imo, Kano, Lagos, Rivers state. These visitor teams completed a checklist of 20 questions covering five areas of interest: community orientation, physical conditions, equal treatment of the public, transparency and accountability, and detention conditions.

30 Days/Dae/Izinsuku June 2011

This month's media summary report include news about governance and corruption, sentenced prisoners, rehabilitation and prison conditions.

CSPRI Newsletter No. 38 - June 2011

This newsletter is about the Correctional Matters Amendment Bill (B41 of 2010), which is the sixth piece of amending legislation to the Correctional Services Act since its adoption by Parliament in 1998.

The role of the Uganda Justice Law and Order Sector (JLOS) Case Backlog Reduction Programme: Achievements and Lessons Learned

by Gadenya Paul Wolimbwa, Senior Technical Advisor, Justice Law and Order Sector (JLOS). ".. the Justice Law and Order Sector came up with the case backlog reduction strategy to change the way case backlog had always been handled to one where resources – human and financial would be focused on the result rather than processes. The strategy also emphasized taking deliberate steps to stop the growth of new case backlog. The JLOS Quick Wins Reduction Programme was designed to remove cases which were more than two years old from the system. ..."

Committee against Torture hears Delegation of Mauritius on implementation of the Convention

United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights media information record.

Mkula v The Republic [Malawi High Court Civil Cause 15 of 2011]

Habeous Corpus Application; ten years awaiting trial.

Presumed Innocent, Behind Bars: The problem of lengthy pre-trial detention in Uganda

by Sonja Pavic and Joanna Kyriazis via a collaboration between Avocats Sans Frontières’ Uganda field mission and the International Human Rights Program (IHRP) at the University of Toronto, Canada, with the kind of the Uganda Prisons Service.

30 Days/Dae/Izinsuku May 2011

Media reports include corruption; prison conditions; parole and sentencing; governance and corruption and South African imprisoned abroad.

The Democratic Republic of Congo: Background and Current Developments

by Ted Dagne, Specialist in African Affairs, April 29, 2011 for the US Congressional Research Service. Includes a chapter on Human Rights Conditions, covering arrests and detention.

Submission by CSPRI to the Portfolio Committee on Police on the Independent Police Investigative Directorate Bill [B15 of 2010] and the Civilian Secretariat for Police Service Bill - B16 of 2010.PDF

The submission deals with two bills, being the Independent Police Investigative Directorate Bill and the Civilian Secretariat for Police Service Bill. The first places the emphasis on the absolute prohibition of torture and argues for the inclusion of the crime of torture into the bill and strengthening the investigative powers of the proposed Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) as well as its independence. In respect of the Civilian Secretariat for Police Service Bill attention is paid to establishing a detention visiting mechanism to enhance transparency in line with OPCAT.

US Department of State Human Rights Report 2010

"The law requires arrest warrants and stipulates that the government may not detain a person beyond 48 hours without an examining magistrate's formal charge; however, the law was not always enforced in practice, especially in rural areas. Detainees may be held another 48 hours with the prior approval of the public prosecutor. There were unconfirmed reports that detentions exceeding the allowed time limit became more frequent during the year, which was attributed to the government's response to minor reports of vandalism and stone throwing between juvenile gangs. The law provides that detainees be promptly notified of the charges against them, although in practice there were occasional delays.