A/69/387 by police services. If medical staff, including forensic doctors, serve under law enforcement or security agencies or the prison sector, they are under the same employer as the officers in charge of interrogating and holding detainees. They may have conflicted loyalty between their employer and their professional obligation to report torture or ill-treatment, out of fear of jeopardizing their employment or other reprisals. In the context of allegations of torture or other ill-treatment, the provision of forensic services from within the police force and lack of independent oversight has been criticised by the Special Rapporteur on previous occasions and the mandate has recommended that systems be reorganised to ensure independence from the police. In addition, in those cases, it should be mandatory to submit the person to an independent assessment, external from prison medical services. 2. Implications for effective implementation Basic requirements 38. An effective forensic evaluation must include both medical documentati on of all findings and an expert opinion on the specific nature of the symptoms, their origin and consistency with concrete allegations. The health care professional ’s duty is to provide an independent opinion on the allegations together with any corroborating medical evidence. Reports should include the circumstances of the interview, a detailed record of the subject’s story given during the interview, all reported physical and psychological symptoms, records of physical and psychological examination, findings on clinical examination, appropriate diagnostic tests and, where possible, colour photographs of all injuries. The opinion part of the report should point to the probable relationship between the physical and psychological findings and possible torture or other ill-treatment. Authorship of the report must be noted. 39. Therefore, where a detainee or any other person alleges torture or other ill-treatment or where there is reason to believe that torture or other ill-treatment has happened, alleged victims should be given an immediate examination by a doctor who can make an accurate report without interference by the authorities. Forensic evaluation must conform to established standards of medical practice, be undertaken only with prior informed consent, conducted in private and take full account of the victim’s statements. The undertaking of such evaluation should not be dependent on the initiation of an official investigation or subject to prior authorization by an investigating authority. 20 Furthermore, the right to request an independent medical evaluation should also extend to members of the detainee ’s family and other bodies designated to receive complaints. In cases of death in custody, the deceased ’s family and, in their absence, other interested parties, must have the right to request an autopsy to be performed by an independent health professional of their choice. Detention screening and documentation system 40. In order to effectively detect and document torture and other ill-treatment in places of detention, there must be a system of routine medical screenings at entry, periodically during incarceration, at exit, at all transfers and upon request. Such screenings must be capable of identifying both physical and psychological __________________ 20 14-61535 See European Court of Human Rights, Mammadov (Jalaloglu) v. Azerbaijan, 2000, para. 74; see also CPT standards, para. 30. 11/23