104 Legal Digest of International Fair Trial Rights No statements or confessions, or in principle other evidence, obtained in violation of article 7 of the ICCPR or article 3 of the ECHR may be invoked as evidence in any criminal or civil proceedings, including during a state of emergency, even if the admission of such evidence was not decisive in securing the conviction.425 The only exception to this rule is that a statement or confession may be used as evidence that torture or other treatment prohibited by article 7 of the ICCPR or article 3 of the ECHR has occurred.426 In such cases, the burden is on the State to prove that statements made by the accused were given by the free will of the accused.427 The UN Guidelines on the Role of Prosecutors place specific obligations on prosecutors who know or believe on reasonable grounds that evidence was obtained through recourse to unlawful methods, including torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The Guidelines provide that prosecutors “shall refuse to use such evidence against anyone other than those who used such methods, or inform the Court accordingly, and shall take all necessary steps to ensure that those responsible for using such methods are brought to justice”.428 v Tajikistan, HRC Communication 1208/2003, UN Doc CCPR/C/86/D/1208/2003 (2006), paras 6.2–6.4; and Shakurova v Tajikistan, HRC Communication 1044/2002, UN Doc CCPR/C/86/D/1044/2002 (2006), paras 8.2–8.3. Contrast with Lyashkevich v Uzbekistan, HRC Communication 1552/2007, UN Doc CCPR/ C/98/D/1552/2007 (2010), para 9.2. 425 UN Human Rights Committee, CCPR General Comment 32 (2007), paras 6, 41; and UN Human Rights Committee, CCPR General Comment 29 (2001), paras 7, 15. See also Jalloh v Germany [2006] ECHR 721, para 99; Levinta v Moldova [2008] ECHR 1709, paras 101, 104–105; and Gäfgen v Germany [2010] ECHR 759, paras 166–167. See also article 15 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which provides that: “Each State Party shall ensure that any statement which is established to have been made as a result of torture shall not be invoked as evidence in any proceedings, except against a person accused of torture as evidence that the statement was made.” 426 UN Human Rights Committee, CCPR General Comment 32 (2007), para 41. See also article 15 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (ibid). 427 UN Human Rights Committee, CCPR General Comment 32 (2007), para 41. See also: Kelly v Jamaica, HRC Communication 253/1987, UN Doc CCPR/C/41/D/253/1987 (1991), para 7.4; Singarasa v Sri Lanka, HRC Communication 1033/2001, UN Doc CCPR/C/81/D/1033/2001 (2004), para 7.4; and Khuseynova and Butaeva v Tajikistan, HRC Communication 1263/2004 and 1264/2004, UN Doc CCPR/ C/94/D/1263–1264/2004 (2008), para 8.3. 428 UN Guidelines on the Role of Prosecutors, adopted by the UN Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, Havana, Cuba, 27 August to 7 September 1990, para 16.