A/HRC/19/61/Add.2 29. The Special Rapporteur received reports indicating that the deadline set in article 156, part 2, of the Code of Criminal Procedure for the investigator or prosecutor to decide within three days (or 10 days in exceptional circumstances) whether to launch a criminal investigation is rarely observed. In addition, the required medical examination of the victim is usually delayed until the injuries have disappeared. With regard to torture, even the time established in law for deciding upon the initiation of a criminal investigation is excessively long; it prevents prompt and effective determination and preservation of evidence and the identification of perpetrators. Preliminary inquiries conducted by the Department of Internal Security of the Ministry of the Interior vis-a-vis its own colleagues against whom complaints have been made are also marred by a conflict of interest. There is also conflict of interest between the investigating and overseeing functions of prosecutorial authorities, given that criminal cases launched into allegations of torture by police officers during preliminary investigations cast a shadow over the effectiveness of oversight of the legality of investigation also overseen by the prosecutor’s office. 30. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the bill signed into law by the President on 9 August 2011 on amendments and changes to the Criminal and Procedural Code of Kyrgyzstan, whereby investigations of offences envisaged in, inter alia, article 305-1 of the Criminal Code are to be conducted solely by the officers of the prosecutor’s office. The Special Rapporteur observes that, despite the fact that prosecutors have regained investigating functions over the crimes of torture and other ill-treatment, they lack real investigatory powers, depend on the police to conduct searches and seizures, and do not have their own operative groups or their own criminologists. 31. The Special Rapporteur was encouraged to learn from the Prosecutor General that efforts were being made to make the suspension of law enforcement officials from their posts mandatory, in view of the fact that, until very recently, before official charges were brought against public officials, the latter continued to hold their posts and were suspended only during the period of pretrial investigation. 32. The Code of Criminal Procedure makes passing references to rehabilitation in articles 225, 419, 422 and 225, part 2. It does not, however, prescribe in full terms the enforceable right of the victim to fair and adequate compensation, including the means for as full a rehabilitation as possible. The Special Rapporteur learned that there were no Statesupported specialized rehabilitation services for victims, nor were such programmes envisaged by the Government at the time of the visit. 33. Furthermore, it appears that, under article 417 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the effective implementation of the right of torture victims to compensation is significantly hampered by strict procedural requirements, given that the right to compensation is recognized only upon a judicial verdict or a resolution of the investigating body or prosecutor. III. Assessment of the situation 34. Kyrgyzstan has undergone significant developments since 2010, including the adoption of the new Constitution, on 27 of June 2011; an invitation made by the President to an independent international commission of inquiry, the Kyrgyzstan Inquiry Commission, mandated to investigate facts and circumstances relating to incidents of interethnic violence in the south of Kyrgyzstan in June 2010; the holding of parliamentary and presidential elections, in 2010 and 2011 respectively, and the consequent formation of a new Government; the release, including by reduction of sentences, of thousands of prisoners under the Amnesty Act of 27 July 2011; the ratification by Parliament in March 2010 of the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political 9