Improper medical examinations 120. In general, there are different categories of medical examinations in the context of the deprivation of liberty. There is the initial examination that states are required to offer people upon being detained (upon arrest), usually in a police detention facility.276 This is distinct from the forensic medical examination that should take place once a detainee alleges torture or suspicion of torture has been raised. States are obligated to guarantee the availability of prompt, independent, impartial, adequate and consensual medical examinations at the time of arrest, and at regular intervals thereafter. Medical examinations must also be provided upon each transfer of a detainee. In some countries, medical examinations are required in certain circumstances, regardless of whether a detainee requests one. In one Central Asian OSCE participating State for instance, a detainee must undergo a medical examination before entering a temporary detention facility.277 In another state in the same region, detainees must undergo a medical examination each time they are transferred to a different detention facility.278 Such routine medical examinations of detainees after admission to every place of detention create a system of “checkpoints” that minimizes the number of unaccounted cases of torture and renders impossible a shifting of blame and accountability among various detention facilities and authorities.279 In the event there is an allegation or any sign that torture or ill-treatment may have occurred, prompt, independent, impartial and professional examinations, in accordance with the Manual on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Istanbul Protocol), must be carried out, as provided by international law.280 Prison facilities should have general medical services available to detainees that are capable to perform medical examinations on request. In the European 276 See e.g., Principle 24 of the Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment. 277 Questionnaire response Nota Bene (Tajikistan) (2019). 278 Questionnaire response Golos Svobody (Kyrgyzstan) (2019). 279 Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, “Study on the phenomena of torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in the world, including an assessment of conditions of detention”, A/HRC/13/39/ Add. 5, para. 126. 280 Article 12, UNCAT, op. cit., note 19. 78