CAT/C/UZB/CO/5 conclusions, and to ensure that victims of excessive use of force, torture and illtreatment, and others concerned, receive a full, transparent and credible account of the Andijan events. The investigation should be capable of leading to prosecutions for violations of the Convention and of ensuring that victims of such violations obtain redress, including compensation and as full a rehabilitation as possible. Definition of torture 21. While appreciating the enactment in April 2018 of amendments to article 235 of the criminal code, aimed at strengthening the guarantees of the rights of citizens during forensic examinations, including by ensuring access to lawyers, and reducing the period during which a person may be detained before being brought before a judge, the Committee is concerned that the definition of torture contained in article 235 does not encompass all the elements contained in article 1 of the Convention. The Committee is also concerned that the definition contained in article 235 applies only to law enforcement or other State agency employees and excludes others acting with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other persons acting in an official capacity; that its reference to acts amounting to torture as illegal, psychological, psychic, physical or other pressure by means of threatening, striking, beating, tormenting, causing of suffering or other unlawful acts could imply that legal forms of coercion exist; and that the definition limits such acts only to persons involved in a criminal procedure, leaving out persons in other settings such as hospitals and other specialized institutions. Further, the definition limits forms of discrimination as aggravating circumstances solely to discrimination on grounds of nationality, race, religion or social status, which makes discrimination an aggravating circumstance, without additional grounds for discrimination, unlike the specification of “any reason based on discrimination of any kind”, which is contained in article 1 of the Convention. The Committee notes that to date no judgments of national courts have referred to the Convention and the definition of torture outlined in article 1 (arts. 1, 2 and 4). 22. The Committee recommends that the State party adopt a definition of torture in its criminal code in line with all the elements contained in article 1 of the Convention and would appreciate receiving information on measures the State party envisages taking to that effect. The State party should: (a) Ensure that the definition classifies as perpetrators of torture persons who act in an official capacity as well as officials who consent to or acquiesce in torture perpetrated by third parties; (b) Ensure that article 235 covers all places where persons are deprived of their liberty; (c) Ensure that acts of torture may include third persons and not solely those involved in criminal proceedings and their close relatives; (d) Broaden the reference to discrimination to include discrimination of any kind; (e) Ensure the full and direct applicability of the provisions of the Convention in national courts so that it can be invoked before them, and clarify the precedence of international human rights instruments to which the State is a party over national legislation in the case of a conflict. Penalties for acts of torture 23. The Committee is concerned that the maximum penalty for acts of torture is 10 years of imprisonment, which puts it in the category of minor and less serious offences, as opposed to serious and especially serious offences that carry sanctions of 25 years of more of imprisonment. It is also concerned that few convictions for torture are handed down under article 235 of the criminal code and that most officials are convicted under articles 301 (abuse of official authority) and 302 (negligence), which carry lighter sentences, as well as articles 104, 105, 109, 206 and 234 of the criminal code, as confirmed by the State party’s delegation (arts. 1, 2 and 4). 24. The State party should ensure that both the crime of torture and the attempt to commit such a crime are punishable with appropriate penalties that take into account their grave nature, as set out in article 4 (2) of the Convention, regardless of whether 6