CAT/C/29/D/193/2001 page 6 inhuman or degrading treatment. Still more specifically, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment provides (art. 15) that: “Each State party shall ensure that any statement which is established to have been made as a result of torture shall not be invoked as evidence in any proceedings, except against a person accused of torture as evidence that the statement was made.” In this case, the statements made by Mr. Azurmendi, who is established to have been subjected to ill-treatment while held in custody, clearly cannot serve as a legal basis for proceedings against [P.E.]. 2.11 The indictment division of the Paris Court of Appeal replied as follows in its decision of 21 June 2000: In view of the fact that it is not the task of the court to find whether the factual elements cited by the requesting authority have been proven, but to consider whether those elements constitute a criminal offence in the requesting State and in the requested State; […] in view of the fact that, while it is true that Azurmendi implicated [P.E.], he did not do so as a result of violence but, according to the evidence supplied by the requesting State, in the Civil Guard station, in the presence of a lawyer; in view of the fact that the court cannot seek to secure the documents forming part of the Spanish proceedings in order to substitute itself for the authorities of the requesting State in their analysis; it is sufficient that, as in the present case, the court should possess sufficiently precise information to enable it to determine the existence of suspicions so as to allow it to apply the principle of dual criminality. 2.12 On 17 May 2000, the German section of Action of Christians for the Abolition of Torture (ACAT) wrote to the French Government requesting it not to extradite the complainant to Spain. On 23 May 2000, many organizations, associations and public figures sent an open letter to the French authorities along the same lines. 2.13 On 29 September 2000, the French Government issued a decree granting extradition of the complainant to the Spanish authorities. On 3 January 2001, the complainant appealed against the decree to the Council of State. In a statement of case presented to the Council of State, counsel for the complainant reiterated the arguments presented to the indictment division, adding: [I]n response to the argument concerning a breach of French public order, the (French) Minister (of Justice) does not dispute any of the circumstances described by the plaintiff, in particular: − The fact that Mr. Azurmendi’s statements made while being questioned by the Civil Guard authorities, which inter alia implicated Ms. [P.E.], were subsequently retracted before the examining magistrate; − That Mr. Azurmendi was transported to casualty at the end of his period in custody because he had been subjected to ill-treatment during questioning by the Civil Guard.