E/CN.4/2003/68/Add.2 page 20 63. Despite the fact that a multiparty democratic system still needs to be established with a view to legitimizing the political authorities, the Special Rapporteur was impressed by vibrant sectors of civil society concerned with human rights issues. He regrets that, for the time being, only one independent human rights non-governmental organization has been officially registered by the authorities, and that a number of civil society activists are said to have been harassed, detained and ill-treated allegedly because of their human rights activities. In particular, he is particularly concerned about the current situation of Elena Urlaeva and Larissa Alexandrova Vdovina (see appendix II). 64. Due to recent legal reforms, four crimes, namely premeditated murder with aggravating circumstances, genocide, terrorism and aggression, are now capital offences. According to a statement attributed to the President of the Republic, on average, 100 persons per year are executed. Despite his requests, the Special Rapporteur was not provided with any specific statistics regarding death penalty cases. As noted above, he regrets that the Supreme Court, which is to review all cases of death sentence, even in the absence of a formal complaint according to its Acting Chairperson, seems not to have received information from United Nations human rights monitoring bodies regarding alleged irregularities in the criminal process leading to a death sentence, in particular requests for interim measures from the Human Rights Committee. The Special Rapporteur further questions the statement by the Acting Chairperson according to which no one has ever been wrongly executed. 65. The Special Rapporteur also notes with serious concern the situation of relatives of persons sentenced to death. The complete secrecy surrounding the date of execution, the absence of any formal notification prior to and after the execution and the refusal to hand over the body for burial are believed to be intentional acts, fully mindful of causing family members turmoil, fear and anguish over the fate of their loved one(s). The practice of maintaining families in a state of uncertainty with a view to punishing or intimidating them and others must be considered malicious and amounting to cruel and inhuman treatment. Furthermore, the Special Rapporteur considers that the abolition of the death penalty would be a positive step towards respect for the prohibition of torture and other forms of ill-treatment. 66. The combination of a lack of respect for the principle of presumption of innocence despite being guaranteed by the Constitution (art. 25) and the CPC (art. 23), the discretionary powers of the investigators and procurators with respect to access to detainees by legal counsel and relatives, as well as the lack of independence of the judiciary and allegedly rampant corruption in the judiciary and law enforcement agencies, are believed to be conducive to the use of illegal methods of investigation. The excessive powers in the overall criminal proceedings of procurators, who are supposed at the same time to conduct and supervise preliminary criminal investigations, to bring charges and to monitor respect for existing legal safeguards against torture during criminal investigations and in places of detention, make investigations into complaints overly dependent on their goodwill.