38. However, it remains the exception that States would make it a general rule that the right to a lawyer extends to all persons deprived of their liberty, including administrative detainees.26 The reluctance to grant everyone, including persons who are deprived of their liberty for purely administrative reasons, such as for identification or because they have caused a minor public order offence, is understandable, particularly in the light of the fact that legal aid would also have to be accorded to those persons in order to make the right effective for everyone. Still, a solution has to be found to counter practices whereby persons who are in fact suspected of a crime, are questioned by (operative) police officers under the guise of administrative detention or as “witnesses”, and only benefit from the right to a lawyer once an official protocol of arrest is drawn up and they are ready to sign a confession. Experience has shown that such practices entail a high risk of ill-treatment. How can it be ensured that everyone de facto suspected of a crime and questioned by the police is effectively afforded the right to a lawyer? 39. Another recurrent problem, identified by the CPT, is that persons who have to rely on legal aid lawyers would often only get to see these lawyers at the court hearing.27 Such a system obviously renders the preventive function, which a lawyer could play by his/her mere presence during interviews with the police, futile. How can it be ensured that legal aid lawyers attend police stations in person at any particular time in order to assist indigent persons from an early stage of their detention? Right to a doctor 40. The provision of emergency care for persons in police custody who are in obvious need of urgent medical attention does usually not pose any significant problems to police forces in CoE Member States. However, the right to access to a doctor - if it is to act as a safeguard against ill-treatment - is more than just the provision of emergency medical care: it comprises the entitlement to be seen by a doctor upon request, without limitations, possibilities for denial or discretion on the part of the police to make an assessment whether medical care is indeed needed. The laws and regulations of a number of CoE States explicitly foresee this right, including the entitlement to see a doctor of one’s choice at one’s own expense, while other laws do not provide for such a right. In practice, detainees in many States frequently report that the police denied their request to see a doctor. Why is there reluctance to introduce a right to access to a doctor in law? What are the practical obstacles to providing every detainee who requests it with the opportunity to be seen by a doctor or other medical professional? See, however, the cases of Georgia and San Marino, where the right to a lawyer is applicable to all persons deprived of their liberty, for whatever reason. 27 Noteworthy positive exceptions are the United Kingdom and Spain, where access to legal aid lawyers is guaranteed in law and practice. 26 12