CAT/C/KGZ/CO/2 concerning the tenure and selection process for the Ombudsman and lack of independence. The Committee regrets that the Ombudsman (Akyikatchy) Act establishes that, if the annual report is not approved, the Ombudsman may be removed from his or her post (CAT/C/KGZ/2, para. 64). The Committee notes that the State party envisages adopting a draft law to strengthen the Office of the Ombudsman (arts. 2, 11 and 13). The State party should bring the Office of the Ombudsman into compliance with the Paris Principles, inter alia by ensuring its independence and providing adequate resources for its operation. National preventive mechanism 15. While welcoming the establishment of the National Centre of the Kyrgyz Republic for the Prevention of Torture, the Committee remains concerned that it has not yet begun activities as the country’s national preventive mechanism, mainly due to the inadequate budget (art. 16). The State should ensure that: (a) the National Centre for the Prevention of Torture has the necessary financial, human and material resources to fulfil its mandate independently and effectively; and (b) all persons involved in the administration of places of detention are aware of the rights of members of the National Centre for the Prevention of Torture. Human rights defenders 16. The Committee expresses serious concern at numerous reports of intimidation, reprisals and threats against human rights defenders, journalists and lawyers, as well as at the absence of information on investigations into such allegations (arts. 2, 12 and 16). In particular, the Committee is concerned about: (a) Reports that human rights defenders have been arrested on criminal charges, apparently in retaliation for their work: and trials in which numerous due process violations have been reported, including regarding the aforementioned case of Azimjan Askarov; (b) The State party’s failure to prevent and punish physical attacks against lawyers, perpetrated both inside and outside the courts, as seen in the violent attacks on Tatyana Tomina as reported by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders (A/HRC/19/55/Add.2, para. 211). Ms. Tomina was reportedly beaten again on 2 April 2013, along with another lawyer, Ulugbek Usmanov, inside the Supreme Court; (c) Several troubling legislative proposals currently under consideration by Parliament, including a draft law that would provide the authorities with wide discretion to interfere with the internal affairs of national and international non-governmental organizations, and to suspend or liquidate their activities on vague administrative grounds; as well as a draft law that would modify the definition of the crime of treason in a way that could chill civil society provision of information on human rights conditions to international bodies. In line with the commitment made by the State party in the context of the universal periodic review (A/HRC/15/2, paras. 76.57 and 76.74), the State party should take all necessary steps to: (a) Ensure that human rights defenders and independent lawyers are protected from intimidation or violence as a result of their activities; (b) Ensure the prompt, impartial and thorough investigation of all allegations of harassment, torture or ill-treatment of human rights defenders, 7