A/65/44 (c) Reforms of the criminal justice system and the introduction of probation and community service and other forms of alternative punishment, leading to a decrease in the total population incarcerated and the improvement of conditions of detention; (d) Law No. 270-XVI of December 2008 on asylum in the Republic of Moldova, which is largely in line with international and European standards; (e) violence. (7) Law No. 45-XVI of March 2007 on preventing and combating domestic The Committee also notes with satisfaction the following developments: (a) Direct reference to articles 12 and 13 of the Convention by the Supreme Court of Justice in cases examined in February 2006 and March 2008; (b) The allocation by the State party of additional resources to improve standards in places of detention, in particular with respect to access to health, activities, training and living conditions. C. Main issues of concern and recommendations Torture and ill-treatment (8) The Committee is concerned about the numerous and consistent allegations of widespread use of torture and other forms of ill-treatment in police custody, corroborated by the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in his report (A/HRC/10/44/Add.3, para. 82). The Committee is also concerned about allegations of torture and ill-treatment being used to extract confessions or information as evidence in criminal proceedings, despite legislative and organizational changes made by the State party (arts. 2, 15 and 16). As a matter of urgency, the State party should take immediate steps to prevent acts of torture and ill-treatment and to announce that no forms of torture and ill-treatment will be tolerated. The State party should, in particular, publicly and unambiguously condemn practices of torture in all its forms, directing this especially to police and prison staff in positions of command responsibility, accompanied by a clear warning that any person committing such acts, as well as instigating, consenting or acquiescing in torture or other ill-treatment, will be held personally responsible before the law for such acts and subject to penalties proportional to the gravity of their crime. (9) The Committee is particularly concerned about the numerous, ongoing and consistent allegations of torture and other forms of ill-treatment in temporary detention facilities under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The Committee is also concerned that, despite the State party’s plan to transfer responsibility over temporary detention facilities to the Ministry of Justice in the context of implementation of the Plan of Action for Human Rights for 2004–2008, the transfer did not take place and is now made conditional upon the construction of eight new remand centres (arts. 2 and 16). As recommended in the previous concluding observations of the Committee (CAT/C/CR/30/7, para. 6 (i)), the State party should take immediate steps to fully transfer the responsibility for temporary detention facilities from the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the Ministry of Justice as a measure to prevent torture and illtreatment. Fundamental legal safeguards (10) The Committee is concerned about allegations that fundamental legal safeguards for persons detained by the police, such as unrestricted access to lawyers and independent doctors, are not being observed, particularly at the early stages of detention, despite existing legal guarantees of articles 64 and 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and the adoption GE.10-44721 37