and that once transmitted to the SPT, that they would arrange for the publication of the report on the SPT website. In thirteen out of twenty-four jurisdictions NPMs publications have been used in court proceedings Thirteen out of twenty-four NPMs surveyed in this project, confirmed that one of their reports, opinions or articles had been used in court proceeding, whether national or regional.292 The Cypriot NPM has on two occasions provided reports to plaintiffs for use before the ECtHR in cases regarding maltreatment or material conditions in police detention. The NPM at the time was making a routine visit and the detainee lodged a complaint two years later, and subsequently requested a copy of the report for the proceedings. The decision is currently pending before the ECtHR. NPM reports do not only provide judges with useful information, but can contribute considerably to binding decisions being issued by the judiciary that might support and confirm recommendations that the NPM has previously issued. Awareness of judges of the role and work of NPMs can therefore not only benefit judges to issue judgments based on reliable information, but might directly enhance the effectiveness of NPM’s own work. Providing specific information on request of the judiciary During the course of workshops, NPMs raised concerns as to whether communicating with a judge in relation to a specific case could potentially impact upon their independence. NPMs mostly did not foresee any difficulties with sharing information that was already in the public domain, on foot of a request. However, several NPMs raised concerns regarding for information that was not yet published, and how it could potentially impact upon their own independence if they would not be able to freely decide whether to provide this information. Addressing this concern, one NPM noted that the independence of the NPM should not be determined by the request itself, but rather by the manner in which the NPM responds to such a request.293 The Polish NPM confirmed this approach “When a judge asks about a particular prison that we have visited, we can send our opinion. In any case we are independent”, meaning independence does not hinge on the provision of information relating to the work of an NPM. The NPM should always act in line with its mandate to prevent torture and ill-treatment. The SPT underlined that it was up to the NPMs to decide whether they provide information that might not yet be public.294 However, it was suggested, that there might need to be good reasons to hold information back, such as security or confidentiality. 292 The Czech NPM’s reports were used by the Constitutional Court and administrative courts regarding conditions of detention and treatment of detainees in detention facilities for foreign nationals. Czech civil courts used the NPM’s reports regarding conditions of detention and treatment of prisoners, particularly the search of prisoners and the use of restraints, and the ECtHR has referred to NPM reports addressing the use of handcuffs in prisons, strip searches in prisons and detention conditions of foreign nationals, the ECtHR has relied upon a report prepared by the Czech NPM. The French NPM’s reports were referred by the ECtHR in four cases. In one of them, the NPM was cited with regard to its positions taken from the Annual Report 2012 on elderly and disabled people in prison as well as extracts from the visiting reports relating to specific detention centres. In all of these cases, the ECtHR appears to have consulted the reports directly from the NPM’s website, without having contacted them. Furthermore, on a national level, the French NPM’s visiting reports were used by administrative judges in cases of persons deprived of their liberty who were complaining about conditions of detention. Reports by the Polish and the Greek NPM were equally cited by the ECtHR in the case of Milka v Poland case 814322/12. See also ECtHR, Becos v. Greece. 293 Portuguese NPM, Vienna Workshop June 2016. 294 Interview with Mari Amos Interview, SPT 30 August 2016. 80