torture inflicted for reasons of punishment. They asked whether the Constitutional Court had applied the provisions of the Convention by going beyond mere mention of the Convention in its rulings. Clarifications were also requested in connection with the application of article 582 of the Penal Code. 435. With reference to article 2, paragraph 1, and articles 4 and 11 of the Convention, taken together, members of the Committee referred to certain information from non-governmental sources about cases in which the provisions of the Convention were said to have been violated. Clarification was requested on the subject of allegations of ill-treatment inflicted on persons deprived of liberty, in prisons or police stations, particularly during questioning. Again, clarification was requested about allegations that extremely light sentences, generally suspended, were systematically handed down against public officials who had committed acts of torture. It was also asked how promotion or transfer within the same grade of members of the forces of law and order sentenced for acts of torture could be reconciled with the spirit of the Convention and the relevant decisions of the Supreme Court. 436. Members of the Committee asked for details about the implementation of article 3 of the Convention and the cases mentioned in paragraph 15 of the report, concerning nearly 100 persons of Central African origin said to have been provisionally authorized to stay on Spanish territory pending a final ruling. They also asked how the Spanish authorities made sure that persons who were turned back or expelled were not subjected in their own country to cruel or inhuman treatment. 437. Clarification was also requested on the implementation of articles 5 to 7 of the Convention. 438. Further information was requested on the implementation of articles 8 and 9 of the Convention. 439. With reference to article 10 of the Convention, members of the Committee said they would like further information on the training for law enforcement personnel and medical staff, and on the measures taken to publicize the provisions of the Convention as widely as possible. 440. With regard to article 11 of the Convention, members of the Committee asked for information on the actual implementation of the instruction concerning compulsory medical assistance for detainees, issued by the Ministry of the Interior in June 1981. They also pointed out that the conditions of detention in Spanish prisons could sometimes be likened to cruel or inhuman treatment and mentioned in this connection the sanitary conditions, lack of ventilation and prison overcrowding, the repeated measures of prolonged isolation, holding suspects incommunicado for five days, frequent transfers from one prison to another, which made visits by relatives difficult, and the arbitrary classification of detainees in the "first degree" category when they had not yet been charged. Members also asked what measures had been taken so that, in practice, every detainee had the information note on the rights of detainees mentioned in the report; and how, in fact, interrogation methods and practices were systematically monitored. Details were also requested about the safeguards when suspected members of armed gangs were held incommunicado, partly in connection with the right of access to a lawyer. 441. In connection with articles 12 and 13 of the Convention, members of the Committee asked for statistical data about the number of automatic investigations, investigations conducted further to complaints, judgements and sentences in cases of torture and ill-treatment. They referred to a report by the People’s Advocate, annexed to the initial report, in which the delay in -69-