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torture is politically motivated and used against political opponents, journalists and lawyers
(arts. 2, 12, 13, 14 and 16).
The State party should take appropriate measures to carry out independent, thorough
and impartial investigations into human rights violations, including cases of torture,
ill-treatment, summary executions and enforced disappearances, and ensure that the
perpetrators are prosecuted and punished. No circumstance, including domestic
political instability, may serve to justify torture, and no political or any other type of
agreement should permit an amnesty for the perpetrators of the most heinous offences
committed during the political crisis. The State party should strengthen the
complaints mechanisms available to victims and ensure that they obtain redress and
are provided with the means of achieving social reintegration and psychological
rehabilitation. The State party should ensure that persons lodging such complaints,
witnesses and members of their families are protected from any act of intimidation in
connection with their complaint or testimony.
The Committee invites the State party to include statistics in its next periodic report
on the number of complaints of torture or ill-treatment made and on the number of
criminal convictions handed down or disciplinary measures taken in such cases,
including those that occurred during the de facto state of emergency in 2009. The
information should include the identity of the investigating authorities and should be
broken down by the sex, age and ethnic origin of the persons filing the complaints.
Basic legal safeguards
9.
The Committee notes that, when suspects are arrested, they are rarely informed of
their right to be examined by a physician, that they do not receive proper medical
examinations and that persons held in custody sometimes encounter problems in gaining
access to their lawyers or family members. The Committee considers that the extension of
the duration of pretrial detention to 12 days is excessive. The Committee is seriously
concerned about the fact that in several cases pretrial detention has extended beyond
acceptable periods (arts. 2, 12, 13, 15 and 16).
In the light of the Committee’s general comment No. 2 on the implementation of
article 2, the State party should redouble its efforts to ensure that from the outset
detainees benefit in practice from all the basic legal guarantees. These guarantees
include in particular the obligation to inform such persons of their rights and of the
charges against them and the rights of detainees to prompt legal assistance and, where
necessary, legal aid; to an independent medical examination by, if possible, a
physician of their choice; to notify a relative; and to be brought before a judge
without delay.
The State party should ensure the implementation of Decree No. 2009-970 of 14 July
2009 regulating legal assistance, strengthen its system for providing persons taken into
custody with free legal assistance and facilitate access by detainees to their lawyers
and family members. The State party should also consider amending its Code of
Criminal Procedure in order to reduce the duration of pretrial detention and to put
rigorous safeguards in place to prevent it from being abused. The Committee invites
the State party to strengthen its locally based justice system to the extent possible in
order to preclude logistical problems posed by the need for persons standing trial and
criminal investigation officers to travel considerable distances.
Living conditions in and systematic monitoring of places of detention
10.
While taking note of the information provided by the State party on the construction
of four new prisons, the Committee remains concerned about the poor living conditions in
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