E/CN.4/2000/9 page 14 reported to have no right under the law to arrange forensic medical examinations for their clients in order to establish evidence of physical abuse. The police or procuracy investigator handling a case has the authority to approve or reject a detainee's and lawyer's request for a forensic medical examination. A report or testimony after an examination by a private doctor or other examiner who is not an employee of the State forensic medical office is reportedly not acceptable in court to establish the cause of injuries. Detainees have reportedly no right to be treated or visited by their own doctors while in pretrial detention. 39. During an investigation, defendants are said to have no access to a judge to protest alleged ill-treatment: their sole recourse lies with the procuracy. In practice, the procuracy is said rarely to investigate allegations of torture and even less frequently to prosecute the police officers allegedly responsible. 40. Coerced confessions are said to be used by the procurator's office as evidence to secure convictions at trials. Judges are reported rarely to pursue defendants' torture allegations. It is also reported that the police beat individuals to extort bribes from them and family members seeking their release. 41. The Special Rapporteur has also received information regarding the conditions of detention, which are said to amount to cruel and inhumane treatment. It is reported that overcrowding in pre-trial detention centres forces detainees to sleep in shifts in cells that lack proper ventilation and light. Some detainees are reported to be extremely thin and malnourished. Medical attention is said to be denied. The treatment of contagious diseases, such as tuberculosis, is in particular denied. 42. The Special Rapporteur advised the Government that he had also received information on the following individual cases. 43. Elchin Behudov was reportedly arrested without warrant in Baku on 21 October 1995 on suspicion of concealing information regarding the September 1994 murder of a fellow employee of the Presidential Special Department. He was reportedly taken to a holding cell in the basement of the Presidential Special Department, where he remained for two days in incommunicado detention. On the second day of detention he was reportedly transferred to the Baku City Police Department (Gorotdel), where he was allegedly beaten when he refused to write a statement. The police allegedly put a gas mask on his head and started to asphyxiate him. He reportedly had bruises on his entire body and was later unable to walk. A procuracy investigator who later saw him reportedly refused to take action about the abuse. On 3 January 1996, Elchin Behudov was formally charged under article 186 of the Azerbaijani criminal code with "concealing evidence of a crime". 44. Abulfat Kerimov was reportedly arrested in Baku on 16 March 1996. He was reportedly taken to the fourth floor of Gorotdel. His lawyer reported that his entire body was covered with bruises and swelling and his eyes were swollen. Further, he could not pick anything up with his hands or stand on his feet. Repeated requests by his lawyer to the Procuracy General for a forensic medical examination of his client were allegedly turned down. 45. Eldar Agayev was reportedly arrested at his workplace on 23 September 1993. On the tenth day of his detention his wife was reportedly allowed to see him at the police station in the Twentieth Police Precinct in Nasimi district,