33 Police officers shall not bind all persons brought in police stations; instead, this shall be done only where justified reasons pertain and where strictly necessary, in cases where this is provided by the law. Police officers shall not attend medical examinations of persons in police custody, unless explicitly asked to do so by the attending physician and only in exceptional circumstances. Police officers shall timely provide physicians with all available information relevant for the physician’s decision whether to request that a police officer be present during the medical examination of a person in police custody. Police stations should provide designated areas where persons who spend more than 24 hours in police custody could spend time in fresh air. Police officers should receive training on how to use police powers against persons with mental disorders, i.e. it should ensure that police officers act in compliance with the Law on the Protection of Persons with Mental Disabilities. 6.2. Enforcement of pre-trial detention During the reporting period, the NPM issued a total of 16 recommendations to the visited detention units. Of that number, 7 recommendations have been complied with, while 9 have not. The Law on Enforcement of Penal Sanctions97 enacted in 2014 provides for a special form of judicial protection of the rights of persons in pre-trial detention (hereinafter detainees): detainees are allowed to lodge complaints with a penal judge, either orally for the record or in writing. The new Bylaw on Enforcement of Pre-Trial Detention Measures98 provides in greater detail than the previously applicable bylaw in this field for the manner in which detainees can exercise their right to health care and their right to visits, as well as the remedial procedure available to detainees to protect their rights. 2014 saw the enactment of the new Law on Enforcement of Penal Sanctions 99, with amended provisions governing the enforcement of pre-trial detention measures, as well as the enactment of the pertinent implementing regulation. The number of detainees has been declining in recent months and the overcrowding problem at detention units has been alleviated as a result. Presumably, this could be attributed to the effectiveness of the new Code of Criminal Proceedings, which introduced the so-called “prosecutor’s investigation”; however, another reason is the attorneys’ strike from September 2014 to the second half of January 2015. However, since attorneys refused to appear in court for trials during their strike, courts did not hold hearings of detainees, which prejudiced the right of detained persons arising from the duty of courts to keep the duration of detention as short as possible. Just as in the previous reporting period, accommodation conditions and other living arrangements in certain detention units did not comply with the applicable regulations and standards, with most detainees not provided with the statutory minimum of eight cubic metres and four square metres in the dormitories. Some rooms in detention units are extremely dilapidated, with unusable sanitation facilities, dirty, unaired, without sufficient natural light and with poor artificial lighting. 97 98 Official Gazette of RS No. 55/14. Bylaw on Enforcement of Detention Measures, Official Gazette of RS No. 132/14.