Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe 2nd Topic: "Political prisoners and prisoners of Conscience."
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Committee of Ministers of the Council of
Europe
2nd Topic: “Political prisoners and
prisoners of Conscience.”
TOPIC AREA A: Political Prisoners and Prisoners of Conscience. TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Introduction 3 Political Prisoners and the Council of Europe 3 Purely Political Offences 5 Other Political Offences 6 Non-political Offences 6 Burden of Proof 6 Prisoners of Conscience 8 The Violation of Human Rights of Political Prisoners And Prisoners of Conscience 10 Final Remarks 11 Possible Questions to be Addressed during the Debate 12 Bibliography 12 Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe – Topic Area Β 2 © 2014 by University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece, for Thessaloniki International Student Model United Nations. All Rights Reserved. www.thessismun.org
Introduction
Political Prisoners and Prisoners of Conscience (POC) are two terms with slightly
differences between them. Thus, it is very common for people to interpret the term
Political Prisoner narrowly, equating it with the term Prisoner of Conscience (POC).
Both of the terms referring to persons who have been deprived of their liberty from
the government or the authorities of the state and remaining in custody for a long
time. According to Amnesty International POC, although they fall within the
"political prisoner" designation, they are defined more rigidly.1
Governments in terms of ‘national security’ against terrorism and other threats
stifle political opposition and criticism and increase repression of individuals and
groups exercising their right to free expression.2
The Council of the Europe, as the continent’s leading human rights
organization 3 undertook the obligation to protect Political Prisoners and POC, and
succeeded their immediate release. It is important to be mentioned that in October
2012, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) approved
concrete criteria for what defines a Political Prisoner, while the concept of POC was
first mentioned in an article published in Observer in 1961.
Political Prisoners and the Council of Europe
The issue of Political Prisoners was raised in the Council of Europe during the
negotiations on the accession of Azerbaijan to the Organization. One of the
obligations that was undertaken by Azerbaijan was “to release or to grant a new trial
1 http://www.amnesty-volunteer.org/aihandbook/ch3.html#Politicalprisoners
2 http://www.amnesty.org/en/freedom-of-expression
3 http://www.coe.int/aboutCoe/index.asp?page=quisommesnous&l=en
Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe – Topic Area Β 3
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www.thessismun.orgto those prisoners who are regarded as “Political Prisoners” by human rights
protection organisations”4
During November 2000, the Committee of Ministers invited both Armenia and
Azerbaijan to become Members of the Council of Europe by adopting Resolutions
(2000) 13 and (2000) 14 respectively. Both countries joined the Council of Europe on
25 January 2001.
On 31 January 2001, the Committee of Ministers approved the Secretary
General’s initiative to appoint three “independent experts”5 who would examine lists
of cases of alleged political prisoners drawn up by Armenian and Azerbaijani human
rights NGOs6
The independent experts, undertook the task of determining who could “be
defined as a Political Prisoner on the basis of objective criteria in the light of the case-
law of the European Court of Human Rights and Council of Europe standards”7 They
examined 716 cases (by April 2003 the cases were reduced to 212) in order to
determine whether or not the detainees were indeed “Political” Prisoners, on the basis
of a set of pre-established criteria to which all relevant Council of Europe bodies
agreed. 23 cases were given priority and dealt with by the independent experts as so-
called “pilot cases”. In July 2004, the experts submitted their final report to the
Secretary General. In addition to the 20 opinions on the pilot cases, they adopted 104
opinions concerning the 212 cases referred to them. They concluded that 62 persons
were Political Prisoners, whereas 62 were not, or no longer.
4 Assembly Opinion 222 (2000) Paragraph 14.4 (b) link:
http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=/Documents/AdoptedText/ta00/EOPI222.htm
5 Messrs Stefan Trechsel, former President of the European Commission of Human Rights and
Judge on the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Evert Alkema,
former member of the Dutch Council of State and of the European Commission of Human Rights,
and Alexander Arabadjiev, formerly a judge on the Bulgarian Constitutional Court and presently
member of the Court of Justice of the EU.
6 http://assembly.coe.int/Communication/2012-06-26_ENpressajdoc21.pdf
7 CM/Del/Dec(2001)738 2 February 2001 pg 15
link:https://wcd.coe.int/ViewDoc.jsp?id=183507&Site=CM&BackColorInternet=C3C3C3&BackC
olorIntranet=EDB021&BackColorLogged=F5D383
Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe – Topic Area Β 4
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www.thessismun.orgThe independent experts presented their findings regarding the definition and
criteria for the term of “Political Prisoner” at a hearing before the Committee on
Legal Affairs and Human Rights on 24 June 2010 in Strasbourg. 8 During the
discussion, agreement was reached among the experts that persons convicted of
violent crimes such as acts of terrorism cannot claim to be “Political Prisoners” even
if they purport that they have acted for “political” motives. This argument is
reinforced by Article 17 of the European Convention on Human Rights, entitled
“Prohibition of abuse of rights”.9
The framework that has been developed by the independent experts and
endorsed by the Committee differs according to the nature of the offence for which
the person in question is imprisoned:
1. Purely political offences:
Purely political offences refer to the detraction of the State’s authorities and the
affect of the political organisation of the State in general. If an offender who is
imprisoned for such offences will be considered as a “Political Prisoner” or not, will
depend on whether the detention would be regarded as lawful under the European
Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) as interpreted by the European Court of
Human Rights.
According to Article 10 of the ECHR, which refers to the right to freedom of
expression, everyone has the right to “hold opinions and to receive and impart
information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of
frontiers.”10 However, paragraph 2 of the same article envisages the exceptions to this
right and stresses that this right “may be subject to such formalities, conditions,
restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic
8 Stefan Trechsel, The notion of ‘political prisoner’ as defined for the purpose of identifying
Political Prisoners in Armenia and Azerbaijan, Human Rights Law Journal, Vol. 23 pp. 293-300
(December 2002).
9 The full text of Article 17 of the Convention stipulates: “Nothing in this Convention may be
interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or
perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein or at
their limitation to a greater extent than is provided for in the Convention”.
10 http://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/Convention_ENG.pdf
Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe – Topic Area Β 5
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www.thessismun.orgsociety, in the interests of national security, territorial integrity or public safety, for
the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the
protection of the reputation or rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of
information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartiality
of the judiciary.”11 If a person is convicted in accordance with this provision, and is
not held unlawfully would not be considered as a Political Prisoner. Although
“political” speech is under the protection of article 10, in cases that it incites violence,
racism or xenophobia or other forms of extremism, is not acceptable.12
2. Other political offences:
These offences affect the interests of the State and the individuals, and committed
by wrongdoers with political motives. Examples of political offences are acts of
terrorism. Consequently, persons who are serving a sentence for such an offence are
not Political Prisoners. Exceptions can be arisen, where the punishment meted out is
disproportionate, discriminatory, or the result of an unfair trial.
3. Non-political offences:
Although persons who are imprisoned for offences not related to political motives
are not Political Prisoners, a person convicted of a non-political offence can be a
Political Prisoner, when there was a political motive on the side of the authorities to
imprison the person concerned. This can become apparent when the sentence was
totally out of proportion with the offence and/or when the proceedings were clearly
unfair.
4. Burden of proof:
The Council of Europe’s Independent Experts decided that the individuals held in
custody have to prove that they are political prisoners by evidences that are submitted
to the State concerned. The leader of the Independent Experts stated that “unless the
respondent State succeeds in establishing that the person concerned is detained in full
11 http://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/Convention_ENG.pdf
12 http://assembly.coe.int/ASP/Doc/XrefViewPDF.asp?FileID=18995&Language=en
Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe – Topic Area Β 6
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www.thessismun.orgconformity with ECHR requirements as interpreted by the European Court of Human
Rights, as far as the merits are concerned, that the requirements of proportionality
and non-discrimination have been respected and that the deprivation of liberty is the
result of fair proceedings, the person concerned will have to be regarded as a
Political Prisoner.”13
Summary of the criteria define a political prisoner14
A person deprived of his or her personal liberty is to be regarded as a “political
prisoner”:
• if the detention has been imposed in violation of one of the fundamental
guarantees set out in the European Convention on Human Rights and its
Protocols (ECHR), in particular freedom of thought, conscience and religion,
freedom of expression and information, freedom of assembly and association;
• if the detention has been imposed for purely political reasons without connection
to any offence;
• if, for political motives, the length of the detention or its conditions are clearly
out of proportion to the offence the person has been found guilty of or is
suspected of;
• if, for political motives, he or she is detained in a discriminatory manner as
compared to other persons; or,
• if, the detention is the result of proceedings which were clearly unfair and this
appears to be connected with political motives of the authorities.
Moreover, the recognition of a political aspect in a prisoner’s case, “resides in
the selective application of the law, or in disproportionately harsh punishment in
comparison with persons without a “political” background convicted of a similar
13 Stefan Trechsel, The notion of ‘political prisoner’ as defined for the purpose of identifying
Political Prisoners in Armenia and Azerbaijan, Human Rights Law Journal, Vol. 23 p. 299
14 Extract from the Secretary General’s document SG/Inf (2001) 34 on Cases of alleged political
prisoners in Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe – Topic Area Β 7
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www.thessismun.orgcrime, or finally in unfair proceedings which may nevertheless have resulted in the
conviction of a guilty person.”15
Amnesty’s International handbook presents some examples of Political Prisoners:
• a person accused or convicted of an ordinary crime carried out for political
motives, such as murder or robbery carried out to support the objectives of an
opposition group;
• a person accused or convicted of an ordinary crime committed in a political
context, such as at a demonstration by a trade union or a peasants' organization;
• a member or suspected member of an armed opposition group who has been
charged with treason or “subversion”.16
Prisoners of conscience
“Open your newspaper any day of the week and you will find a report from
somewhere in the world of someone being imprisoned, tortured or executed because
his opinions or religion are unacceptable to his government. There are several
million such people in prison - by no means all of them behind the Iron and Bamboo
Curtains - and their numbers are growing. The newspaper reader feels a sickening
sense of impotence. Yet if these feelings of disgust all over the world could be united
into common action, something effective could be done.” This is the first paragraph of
Peter Benenson’s article “The forgotten Prisoners” in 1961, 17 launched the campaign
"Appeal for Amnesty 1961".
This campaign aimed to identify individual POC around the world and then
support their release through campaigns, social media etc. In early 1962, the
campaign had received the necessary public support to become a permanent
organization and was renamed Amnesty International.
In this article Peter Benenson coined the term Prisoner of Conscience and
defined the term as: “Any person who is physically restrained (by imprisonment or
15 http://assembly.coe.int/Communication/2012-06-26_ENpressajdoc21.pdf
16 http://www.amnesty-volunteer.org/aihandbook/ch3.html#Politicalprisoners
17 http://www.theguardian.com/uk/1961/may/28/fromthearchive.theguardian
Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe – Topic Area Β 8
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www.thessismun.orgotherwise) from expressing (in any form of words or symbols) an opinion which he
honestly holds and which does not advocate or condone personal violence.”
Based on Benenson’s definition of POC, Amnesty International defines POC
“as people who are imprisoned because of their political, religious or other
conscientiously held beliefs, ethnic origin, sex, colour, language, national or social
origin, economic status, birth, sexual orientation or other status.”18 In order for a
person to be recognized as a POC, he/she must refrain from using or advocating
violence.
People can be made POC for many reasons. These include:
• “involvement in non-violent political activities
• belonging to a minority group struggling for autonomy
• taking part in trade union activities
• not using a country’s official language
• refusing to perform military service on grounds of conscience
• gender or sexual identity”19
“Every person has the right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas
without criticism, fear or interference.” 20 Yet throughout the world, bloggers,
journalists, artists, singers and others face harassment and imprisonment for
exercising their right to free speech. “Especially journalists are increasingly targeted
in many countries on account of their professional activities, as governments seek to
restrict the flow of information and to diminish the power of the people to act upon
the truth”.21
The right of expression is fundamental for the respect of human dignity,
personal development and is vital for the fulfillment of the other human rights that are
18 http://www.amnesty.org/en/freedom-of-expression
19 http://www.amnesty.org/en/detention
20 http://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/Convention_ENG.pdf
21 http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/issues/censorship-and-free-speech/press-freedom
Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe – Topic Area Β 9
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www.thessismun.orgincluded in the ECHR. “Freedom of expression is closely linked to the right to hold
opinions and the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion”.22
Throughout the world individuals face harassment and imprisonment as a result of
exercising their right to freedom of expression. Governments, allege that these
prisoners pose genuine threats to the security of their countries.
The violation of human rights of Political Prisoners and Prisoners of
Conscience
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides in articles 2 and 3 that
everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person and everyone is entitled to
all the rights and freedoms set forth in the Declaration “without distinction of any
kind such as (…) political or other opinion”23. Furthermore, article 9 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights provides that “no one shall be subjected to arbitrary
arrest, detention or exile”. Detention is seen as ‘arbitrary’ when there is no legal basis
for detention or there are grave violations of the right to a fair trial (article 6, ECHR).
In addition, article 10 states that “everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and
public trial by an independent and impartial tribunal in the determination of his
rights and obligations and of any criminal charges against him”. Last but not least,
articles 18 and 19 clearly state that “everyone has the right to freedom of thought,
conscience and religion …,” and “everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and
expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to
seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of
frontiers.”
All the rights and freedoms mentioned above are protected also from the
provisions of the ECHR, which all the Member States of the Council of Europe have
22http://www.amnesty.org/en/freedom-of-expression
23 Article 2 of the Universal Declaration stipulates: “Everyone is entitled to all the rights and
freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex,
language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other
status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or
international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be
independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty”.
Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe – Topic Area Β 10
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www.thessismun.orgratified and are obliged to respect and implement. More specifically, in article 5
provides the right to liberty and security stating that “no one shall be deprived of his
liberty” except in some cases and “in accordance with a procedure prescribed by
law” and article 6 protects the right of the person to a fair trial. In addition, articles 9
and 10 refer to the freedom of thought, conscience, religion and freedom of
expression. These two freedoms are blatantly violated when it comes to Political
Prisoners and POC.
Political Prisoners and POC are being detained and imprisoned arbitrarily
without a fair trial, despite all the provisions of the international human rights law
which envisages that all defendants have the right to a fair trial. “In many countries
throughout the world, detainees are held without due process and prisoners are
convicted in unfair trials”. 24 Moreover, in some instances people are held for long
periods without trial, not to mention that in these circumstances many face torture or
other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment from the authorities in order to
extract information or a confession, as well as to punish, intimidate and threaten
prisoners and detainees.
Final remarks
Taking everything into consideration, someone could attribute the causes of
Political Prisoners’ and POC existence to the State’s status. Although the ECHR
protects the freedom of speech and expression, the State violates the provisions of the
Convention on the ground of national security, public order or other reasons
mentioned in article 10 paragraph 2, in order to fulfill other purposes. Thus, in the
light of this practice it could be mentioned that State’s agents abuse the derogative
exceptions. In other words, the political leadership so as to sustain its supremacy
stifles those who opposed to its decisions or are capable of strengthening the social
unrest by arresting or censoring them. Fabric charges and the lack of independence of
the judiciary system merely contribute to the illegal arrest and conviction of those
people.
24http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/issues/prisoners-and-people-at-risk/detention-and-
imprisonment
Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe – Topic Area Β 11
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www.thessismun.orgAn other critical aspect of the matter is that during times of economic crisis,
like the one we face in Europe today, social turbulences and destabilization of the
political scene reinforce the rise of the extremism and implementation of more radical
policies. Indeed, public authorities could seize the opportunity to impose measures
and laws which violate human rights and people’s freedoms, in the light of sustaining
public order and national security.
The Committee of Ministers is called to take immediate action and ensure -
apart from the implementation of the ECHR and other provisions for the protection of
human rights- the determination of concrete steps for the enhancement of the
protection of the Political Prisoners and POC and the reinforcement of the existing
legal framework. The latter is of great significance, as it directly affects the states
concerned and might prevent others from abuse their power towards their citizens.
The Committee of Ministers in many of its adopted documents expressed its
concern about the lack of independence of the judiciary in countries where there is a
large number of Political Prisoners and POC, “its alarm at reports by human rights
defenders and domestic and international NGOs about the alleged use of so-called
fabricated charges against activists and journalists” 25 . Also, the Committee has
stressed out “the combination of the restrictive implementation of freedoms with
unfair trials and the undue influence of the executive results in the systemic detention
of people who may be considered Prisoners of Conscience. Major concern has been
raised in the Committee from the cases of torture and other forms of ill-treatment of
the detainers at police stations and in prisons”.26
The Assembly of the Council of Europe firmly supports that “there can be no
Political Prisoners or POC in any Member State of the Council of Europe.” 27
Especially, for those “prisoners whose detention gives rise to justified doubts and
25 http://assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/Xref-DocDetails-EN.asp?FileID=19243&Lang=EN
26 http://assembly.coe.int/ASP/XRef/X2H-DW-XSL.asp?fileid=19243&lang=en
27 http://assembly.coe.int/ASP/XRef/X2H-DW-XSL.asp?fileid=16979&lang=EN
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www.thessismun.orglegitimate concerns, the Assembly urges the use of all available legal tools for their
release”.28
Possible questions to be addressed during the debate
• In what possible ways can we protect the rights of the political prisoners and
prisoners of conscience?
• Is the existing legal framework (resolutions, decisions e.t.c) effective as far as
the human rights protection of Political Prisoners and POC concerns?
• What necessary measures and actions should be taken to tackle the
imprisonment of persons for their political and personal views?
Bibliography
http://www.amnesty-volunteer.org
http://assembly.coe.int
http://www.amnestyusa.org
http://www.theguardian.com
http://www.coe.int
Human Rights Law Journal, Vol. 23 pp. 293-300 (December 2002).
28 http://assembly.coe.int/ASP/XRef/X2H-DW-XSL.asp?fileid=19243&lang=en
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