CAT/C/ECU/CO/7 Inspection and complaint mechanisms 33. While noting the statement by the State party’s delegation that the members of the national preventive mechanism have unfettered access to places of detention, the Committee remains concerned at reports that they have been denied entry to several prison facilities. The Committee is further concerned that places of detention in the State party still have not made an internal mechanism available to receive complaints from persons deprived of their liberty (arts. 2, 11-13 and 16). 34. The State party should ensure that all places of detention are subject to regular independent inspections and that access to them by members of the national preventive mechanism and human rights NGOs is facilitated through formal accreditation procedures. The State party should also guarantee the right of persons deprived of their liberty to lodge complaints with the competent authorities and should carry out regular evaluations of the effectiveness of the complaints mechanisms made available to such persons. Investigations into allegations of torture and ill-treatment 35. According to the information provided by the State party, between 2010 and early 2016, 170 complaints of torture — 59 of them relating to incidents in the province of Guayas — were submitted to the Attorney General’s Office. However, the State party has supplied no data corresponding to the period from March to December 2014. Likewise, between 2013 and 2016, five convictions for crimes of torture were reportedly handed down, but no information has been provided on the penal or disciplinary sanctions imposed on the perpetrators (arts. 2, 12, 13 and 16). 36. The Committee urges the State party to: (a) Ensure that all allegations of torture or ill-treatment are investigated promptly and impartially by an independent mechanism and that there is no institutional or hierarchical relationship between the investigators and the suspected perpetrators; (b) Ensure that the suspected perpetrators are duly tried and, if found guilty, are punished in a manner that is commensurate with the seriousness of their acts; (c) Ensure that the authorities launch investigations ex officio whenever there are reasonable grounds to believe that an act of torture or ill-treatment has been committed; (d) Ensure that alleged perpetrators of torture and ill-treatment are immediately suspended from duty for the duration of the investigation, particularly when there is a risk that they might otherwise be in a position to repeat the alleged act, take reprisals against the alleged victim or obstruct the investigation; and (e) Provide the Committee with comprehensive statistical data on the number of complaints of torture and ill-treatment registered during the period under review. Victim and witness protection 37. While recognizing the efforts made by the State party to address the serious deficiencies in the victim and witness protection scheme identified by the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions (see A/HRC/17/28/Add.2, paras. 78-82 and 96-98), the Committee remains concerned that no information has been provided on measures taken by the State party to provide protection to members of the national network of forensic experts following the murder in 2010 of Germán Antonio GE.17-00413 7