CAT/C/RUS/CO/5 ensure that in all cases relatives should be informed of detainees’ whereabouts. The Committee is particularly concerned that the State party does not provide for the right of all persons deprived of their liberty to an independent medical examination promptly upon deprivation of liberty (arts. 2, 11, and 12) The Committee recommends that the State party: (a) Ensure that all detainees are afforded, by law and in practice, the right to access a lawyer, contact family members, be informed of the charges against them and request and receive a medical examination by an independent physician promptly upon actual deprivation of liberty; (b) Ensure that all detainees are provided with qualified lawyers who will conduct a proper defence, and independent legal aid; (c) Maintain video recordings of all interrogations and install video surveillance in all areas of custody facilities where detainees may be present, except in cases where detainees’ right to privacy or to confidential communication with their lawyer or a doctor may be violated. Such recordings should be kept in secure facilities and made available to investigators, detainees and their lawyers; (d) Ensure that the State party monitors the provision of safeguards by all public officials to persons deprived of their liberty, including by documenting relevant information in detention registers, and ensuring regular monitoring of officials’ compliance with these reporting requirements; (e) Ensure that any public official who denies fundamental legal safeguards to persons deprived of their liberties is disciplined or prosecuted, and provide data to the Committee on the number of cases in which public officials have been disciplined for such conduct. Coerced confessions 10. The Committee is concerned about numerous allegations that persons deprived of their liberty were subjected to torture or ill-treatment for the purpose of compelling a forced confession, and that such confessions were subsequently admitted as evidence in court in the absence of a thorough investigation into the torture allegations. The Committee is further concerned at the lack of information received on cases in which courts ordered investigations into allegations made by a defendant that he or she confessed to a crime under duress, or postponed criminal proceedings pending such an investigation, and/or deemed such confessions or other evidence inadmissible (arts. 2, 11, 15 and 16). The Committee urges the State party to combat the practice of torture to extract confessions, and ensure that, in practice, forced confessions are not used as evidence in any proceedings. The State party should ensure that judges ask all defendants in criminal cases whether or not they were tortured or ill-treated in custody and order independent medical examinations whenever necessary, particularly whenever there is a reason to believe that a criminal defendant has been subjected to torture and where the sole evidence of a defendant’s guilt is a confession. All confessions found to have been obtained through torture should be excluded. The Committee urges the State party to provide information on cases in which confessions were deemed inadmissible on the grounds that they were obtained through torture, and indicate whether any officials have been prosecuted and punished for extracting such confessions. Monitoring of places of detention 11. While welcoming the establishment of Public Oversight Committees (POCs), the Committee is concerned by (a) the requirement that POCs obtain advance authorization to 4