176. The Minority Rights Centre, an NGO that monitors the situation of Roma, reported that this minority was particularly exposed to violence by the police and provided some examples, which are included in a report entitled “Abuses of Roma Rights in Serbia”.2 Information was also received from other NGOs following the visit, including the Leskovac Committee for Human Rights, the Sandzak Committee for Human Rights and Freedoms and the Bujanovac Committee for Human Rights. The cases presented came from most regions of Serbia. C. Information received from government officials 177. Virtually all government officials with whom the members of the Committee met admitted that torture had been practised extensively under the former regime. They claimed, however, that under the new Government the situation had changed completely, particularly as far as the attitude of the police was concerned. 178. The Minister of Internal Affairs stated that torture was no longer used by the police. Some cases of excessive use of force had occurred since October 2000, but the appropriate measures had been adopted. Those measures included initiating disciplinary and, if necessary, criminal investigations and the suspension from service of the alleged perpetrators while the investigations were being conducted. He also said that all the senior officers of the Ministry had changed and that the process of changing other personnel was almost completed in all regions. Almost two thirds of the heads of police stations throughout Serbia had changed. 179. The Director of Prisons at the Ministry of Justice stated that torture in prisons had been eradicated. This had been achieved mainly by changing the wardens and their deputies. A large number of prison staff had been dismissed and criminal charges had been brought against many of them. He did not have statistics, however, about the number of persons involved. Cases of excessive use of force by prison guards were now rare and ended up generally with the dismissal of those found guilty. The Ministry did not have statistics about those cases either. All prisoners were examined by a doctor upon their arrival in prison. If they alleged having been tortured or ill-treated by the police, this information would be included in their medical reports and made available to the investigating judge. He acknowledged that a system of prison inspection by an independent body did not exist. For that reason he had invited the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights to carry out visits to prisons. Efforts were being made, however, to establish a monitoring system with the participation of experts not belonging to the Ministry. D. Legal safeguards for the prevention of torture and ill-treatment 180. The new Criminal Procedure Code (CPC), which entered into force on 28 March 2002, contains important improvements with respect to its predecessor regarding law enforcement procedures at the pre-trial stage. Some of these improvements are of direct relevance to the prevention of torture, such as limits on the time that a person can be held in police custody and the right to a defence counsel. However, CPC is not applicable to persons detained on suspicion of committing a misdemeanour. According to the Law on Misdemeanours, the police may detain suspects for up to 24 hours before bringing them before a judge. Suspects have no right of access to a defence counsel while in police custody. The Committee members noted that suspected misdemeanours were frequently cited as the reason for detention in police stations. According to information provided to them by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in the period from January to June 2002, 1,918 persons were detained and 1,865 were deprived of their liberty. 74