EU strengthens export ban on torture equipment
STRASBOURG- The European Parliament passed legislation on Tuesday designed to strengthen the EU's ban on the export of torture equipment by preventing the marketing and promotion of items such as spiked batons or restraint chairs.
The European Union has since 2005 banned goods used for capital punishment or torture, including drug injection systems and electric-shock belts on a list since expanded to thumb cuffs or chains to anchor a person to a wall or floor.
However, rights group Amnesty International had criticised the existing legislation for still allowing companies to advertise such equipment at military and security trade fairs inside the bloc, notably in London and Paris, and promoting them on the internet.
It highlighted the promotion of banned equipment at a Paris exhibition in November 2015 and to a German company showcasing on its website "stun-cuffs" operated by remote control that can deliver an electric shock of 60,000 volts.
