28 Human Rights in Counter-Terrorism Investigations religious, ethnic or racial group is prima facie discriminatory and, therefore, prohibited.37 Information and intelligence obtained by torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment A crucial consideration when evaluating information is whether it has been obtained as a result of torture or ill-treatment. This will be especially important when dealing with information received from law enforcement agencies in countries where there is a history of torture or ill-treatment of suspects. There is an absolute prohibition in international law on the use of evidence obtained by torture or ill-treatment in judicial proceedings. This will be discussed in greater detail in Part 3.5 of this manual. The information or intelligence obtained by such illegal means, even when not intended to be used in court proceedings, should always be treated in the same way that a court would treat evidence obtained by illegal means and, thus, be disregarded. Some would argue that the state has a duty to take into account any information, no matter what its source, that may assist in preventing acts of terrorism. However, this viewpoint falls short of practical considerations because the reliability of information obtained through torture or ill-treatment is always doubtful. When tortured or subjected to ill-treatment, people will often admit to things that are not true or provide inaccurate information, simply to make the pain stop. Moreover, it must be strongly emphasized that the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism criticized the practice of receiving intelligence for operational purposes that may have been obtained as a result of torture on the grounds that it makes the receiving agency complicit in criminal acts.38 37 38 See, for example, the case of ECtHR, Timishev v. Russia, Application Nos. 55762/00 and 55974/00, 13 December 2005, <http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/sites/eng/pages/search. aspx?i=001–71627>. In this case police in the Russian Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria received orders not to allow anyone of Chechen origin to enter the republic through checkpoints maintained at the administrative border between Kabardino-Balkaria and the Russian Republic of Ingushetia. The court found that this was discriminatory and unlawful as being in breach of Article 14 of the ECHR. United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, Martin Scheinin, Report to the UN Human Rights Council, 4 February 2009, A/HRC/10/3, para. 55, <http://www.un.org/ Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=A/HRC/10/3>.