CAT/C/41/D/291/2006 page 6 family problems, and the complainant made several visits to a psychologist at the Centre Françoise Minkowska in Paris, as well as to a psychiatrist, who prescribed her anti-depressants available only on prescription.4 The complaint 3.1 As far as the exhaustion of domestic remedies is concerned, the complainant claims to have contacted a lawyer in Tunis on the day after the events. The lawyer found out that she had been given a three-month suspended prison sentence for attacking an official. On 30 July 2004, the lawyer filed a complaint on behalf of the complainant, describing her detention and the abuse she had suffered at the hands of the security officers, classifying the abuse as torture.5 He attached copies of the medical certificates to the complaint and asked the prosecutor to open a criminal investigation. The complaint implicated the president of the national security centre at the Palais de la Justice, the court of first instance and all those who would be accused during the investigation. The complaint was rejected by the office of the State prosecutor at the court of first instance, with no reasons given. It has not been possible to obtain any document or official court stamp attesting to the rejection. 3.2 The complainant claims she tried unsuccessfully to pursue the domestic remedies available under Tunisian law. She maintains that there are no effective remedies available in Tunisia for torture victims; the rejection of the complainant’s complaint is not an isolated case, as has been documented by several non-governmental organizations: “Many citizens encounter enormous difficulties in trying to file a complaint against police officers who have used violence against them. A complaint filed at a police station or office of the State prosecutor is rejected and sometimes the accused officer is in charge of the investigation.”6 Such practices are contrary to internationally recognized standards on the administration of justice and, in particular, on the work of prosecutors.7 They are also contrary to articles 25 and 26 of the State party’s Code of 4 Attached to file. 5 Complaint attached to file, with a translation into French. It also lists the objects not returned to the complainant after she was abused. 6 See the attached 2001 report by the National Council of Liberties in Tunisia and the Tunisian League of Human Rights. See also the other reports mentioned by the complainant, including those by Amnesty International, the World Organization against Torture, the International Federation of Human Rights Leagues, the International Commission of Jurists, Human Rights First and Human Rights Watch. See also the press release issued on 16 November 2005 by several United Nations experts concerned with the situation in Tunisia, on freedom of expression and assembly and the independence of the judiciary. 7 Counsel refers to the summary record of the first part (public) of the 358th meeting of the Committee against Torture, held on 18 November 1998 (CAT/C/SR.358, para. 23), and the Guidelines on the Role of Prosecutors adopted at the Eighth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders (Havana, Cuba, 27 August-7 September 1990).