E/CN.4/1998/38 page 35 Observations 170. The Special Rapporteur continues to appreciate the information provided by the Government, both by way of follow-up to his 1994 mission and as regards individual cases. He also notes the concern of the Committee against Torture which is consistent with the information before him (A/52/44, para. 42). He welcomes the establishment of minimum standards of nutrition and living conditions for persons sentenced to deprivation of liberty. He notes, however, that in the past existing standards in the same fields had remained unimplemented, because of the lack of resources allocated to the administration of places of deprivation of liberty. He also remains particularly concerned about the more acute problem of torturous conditions of detention in pre-trial detention centres (SIZOs), which appear to persist on a widespread scale despite concrete recommendations he made in the report of his visit to alleviate the problem. As far as investigations of allegations of ill-treatment of persons under interrogation are concerned, he believes that national and international misgivings about the effectiveness of such investigations will continue as long as the procuracy remains responsible for both prosecution of ordinary criminal suspects and investigation of abuses committed by law enforcement officials. Rwanda 171. The Special Rapporteur transmitted to the Government two urgent appeals, one in conjunction with the Chairman-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, the other in conjunction with the Special Rapporteurs on the situation of human rights in Rwanda, on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, and on the independence of judges and lawyers. The latter concerned the way cases against persons accused of genocide were said to be conducted. Senegal 172. In a letter dated 10 July 1997, the Government sent the Special Rapporteur background information on recent developments to do with the protection of human rights in Senegal. On the subject of torture, the Government stated that it had recognized the competence of the Committee against Torture to consider communications from individuals on 30 August 1996, that there were plans to allow counsel to be present during detention in custody, that the National Assembly had passed a law defining and explicitly making a criminal offence under the Criminal Code of any act of torture, and that fresh instructions had been issued to the Ministry of Justice, the armed forces and all law enforcement authorities to track down and prosecute violations of human rights and bring the perpetrators to justice. 173. The Special Rapporteur also received a reply from the Government concerning five cases, one of them involving several individuals, transmitted to it in 1996, and one case transmitted in 1994. Spain 174. On 24 January 1997 the Special Rapporteur transmitted complaints about a new case to the Government, and the Government replied. On 26 May 1997 the