E/CN.4/2000/9/Add.1 page 28 in accordance with the international conventions ratified by Venezuela. The bill was to be evaluated by the National Human Rights Commission in consultation with NGOs, together with the Human Rights Bill. 135. The Rapporteur recommended that the absence of marks of torture should not necessarily be treated by the Public Prosecutor’s Office or judges as proof that allegations of torture were false. The Government pointed out that the CCP would make statements made during the oral proceedings the sole testimony with probative value, and that confession no longer carried greater weight than other forms of testimony. 136. The Rapporteur recommended that nudo hecho proceedings should not be allowed to delay the opening of criminal proceedings against public officials for more than a few weeks, and that they should not be subject to a statutory limitation period. The Government stated that nudo hecho proceedings had been eliminated under the new CCP, with the exception of cases involving the President of the Republic or other senior State officials. 137. The false denial to a representative of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of a person’s detention or the refusal of that representative’s access to a detainee should be vigorously pursued as an act requiring instant dismissal of those responsible for the place of detention. The Government stated that action to dismiss a person responsible for a place of detention could only be ordered as the maximum penalty in an administrative disciplinary process. 138. The Rapporteur recommended that representatives of the Public Prosecutor’s Office should be rotated so as to avoid becoming overtly identified with law enforcement or military personnel in a particular locality or place of detention. The Government stated that the new CCP stipulated: “Prosecutors shall not be attached to a particular court or police unit; regional organization shall be based on the principles of flexibility and teamwork; prosecutors shall be appointed by area of expertise or territorial competence in accordance with the needs of the service”. 139. The Rapporteur recommended that the judiciary should monitor conditions of detention or imprisonment closely and systematically to ensure that they were consistent with the prohibition of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and with respect for human dignity enshrined in the international human rights instruments. The Government stated that the CCP assigned supervision of the enforcement of the prison regime to the responsible court, which would, in particular, take measures for the inspection of prisons in which members of the Public Prosecutor’s Office would be able to take part. The judges making such visits would call on the competent authority to take the necessary measures to remedy and prevent any deficiencies noted. 140. Concerning the adoption, as a matter of urgency, of measures aimed at reducing the number of pre-trial detainees, the Government indicated that the CCP made pre-trial detention an exception, in that no citizen could be detained without judicial authorization. A new feature was compensation of the accused for excessive time spent in detention, either on acquittal or on reduction of his sentence following a review of the proceedings, unless he himself had been responsible for the proceedings against him.