Czech castration worries rights group

BRUSSELS, July 14 (UPI) -- A human rights group says it has serious reservations about the Czech Republic's use of surgical castration to treat sex offenders.

The Czech government has said surgical castration is confined mainly to sex offenders who commit murder and then only with the offender's consent.

In a new report, the Committee for the Prevention of Torture questions how freely given the consent could be when the prisoner knows the alternative is chemical castration and indefinite confinement in a psychiatric hospital, BBC News reported Saturday.

The committee, under the Council of Europe, said it was concerned about the overlap between the doctors treating the offenders and the panel of experts responsible for approving surgical castration.

The committee said it would press for greater safeguards when legislation is considered later this year to improve the law, which Czech officials say mainly applies to repeat sex offenders, many of whom were alcoholics and individuals with learning disabilities, the BBC reported.