E/CN.4/2004/56/Add.2 page 7 Safeguards during arrest and detention 13. The Spanish Constitution of 1978 guarantees the personal liberty of individuals, specifies the maximum duration of preventive detention and lays the safeguards during arrest and detention.5 14. The constitutional safeguards and other guarantees in relation to arrest and detention are set out in article 520 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CCP).6 In particular, article 520 (2) provides that any person arrested must be informed immediately, and in a manner understandable to him, of his rights and of the grounds for his arrest. Article 520 (2) (c) provides for the right to choose a lawyer and to request his/her presence with a view to attending the interrogatory proceedings and acting in the verification of identity; article 537 of SPC makes it an offence for a public authority to obstruct a detainee’s exercise of the right to counsel. Article 520 (2) (f) provides the right to be examined by a forensic doctor or his/her legal substitute, or by the doctor of the institution where the detainee is in custody, or by any other doctor dependent on the State or another public administration; the right to be visited by a doctor of the detainee’s own choice is enshrined in article 523 of CCP. Article 520 (2) (d) provides for the right to have relatives informed about the arrest and the place of detention. Article 3 of Organic Law 6/1984 establishes that habeas corpus procedures can be initiated by the detainee, his/her family, the public prosecutor, the Ombudsman and the competent judge who can request the examining magistrate to consider the legality of a detention. The supervision of the situation of detained persons by the competent judicial authority is regulated by article 526 of CCP. 15. The legal safeguards and guarantees afforded during arrest and detention change in cases of specific offences. Article 55 (2) of the Constitution states: “An organic law may determine the manner and the circumstances in which, on an individual basis and with the necessary participation of the courts and proper parliamentary control, the rights recognized in articles 17 (2) [on length of detention], 18 (2) [on home inviolability] and 18 (3) [on secrecy of communications] may be suspended as regards specific persons in connection with investigations of the activities of armed bands or terrorist groups. The unwarranted or abusive utilization of the powers recognized in said organic law will result in criminal responsibility as a violation of the rights and liberties recognized by the laws.” Incommunicado detention 16. In the light of the above-mentioned constitutional provision (art. 55 (2)), the Spanish legislation provides for the possibility of holding incommunicado individuals detained on suspicion of certain categories of crimes, including membership in or relation with an armed group, terrorists or rebels, and of restricting the exercise of some of their rights. Incommunicado detention, which may be ordered both in police detention7 and in prisión provisional, must in any case be authorized and supervised by a judicial authority. 17. According to article 17 (2) of the Constitution and article 520 (1) of CCP,8 police detention shall not last more than the time strictly required in order to carry out the necessary investigations aimed at establishing the facts and must under no circumstance be longer than 72 hours. However, in accordance with the above-mentioned article 55 (2) of the Constitution and article 520 bis (1) of CCP, the police detention period may be prolonged for up to 48 hours in cases related to the prosecution of crimes listed in article 384 bis of CCP, namely membership