CAT/C/NER/CO/1 Incommunicado detention 11. The Committee is deeply concerned about allegations, not contradicted by the State party, that some individuals are held in police custody or pretrial detention in undisclosed locations not provided for by law, such as the General Directorate for Documentation and External Security, the National Police Academy and some military camps. 12. The State party should: (a) Provide the Committee, when it submits its next periodic report, with a comprehensive list of all places of detention; (b) Close all unofficial places of detention; (c) Ensure that all arrests and detentions, including those involving persons suspected of terrorist acts, are subject to oversight by the judicial authorities. Inadmissibility of confessions obtained under torture 13. The Committee is particularly concerned about article 415 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which provides that confessions, like all other forms of evidence, are assessed at the discretion of judges, who therefore have full discretion to accept any evidence. A fortiori, the Committee regrets the absence of a legislative provision expressly prohibiting the use of torture or ill-treatment to obtain confessions (art. 15). 14. The State party should take the necessary measures, including legislative measures, to ensure that confessions obtained through torture or ill-treatment are systematically declared null and void, and to ensure that this obligation is met in practice. Pretrial detention 15. The Committee is concerned at allegations that, despite the provisions contained in articles 132 to 134 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the legal time limits for pretrial detention are routinely exceeded, to the extent that 60 per cent of the prison population are awaiting trial. The Committee is further concerned that Act No. 2016-21 of 16 June 2016, amending and supplementing Act No. 61-33 of 14 August 1961 establishing the Code of Criminal Procedure, authorizes pretrial detention for up to four years in cases of terrorism. Lastly, the Committee is concerned that the routine use of pretrial detention directly contributes to prison overcrowding (art. 2). 16. The Committee recommends that the State party: (a) Ensure that pretrial detention is subject to effective oversight, that its duration does not exceed the legally established maximum and is as short as possible, and that its use is exceptional, necessary and proportionate; (b) Actively promote, within the prosecution service and among judges, the use of alternatives to pretrial detention, in accordance with the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for Non-custodial Measures (Tokyo Rules); (c) Immediately release all persons who have been detained awaiting trial for a period exceeding the maximum sentence imposable for the offence of which they stand accused. Principle of non-refoulement 17. The Committee is concerned about some of the provisions of Act No. 2015-36 of 26 May 2015 on migrant smuggling, article 30 of which authorizes the detention of trafficked migrants on unspecified grounds. It welcomes article 38 of that Act, which provides that the return of victims of torture and ill-treatment must comply with the principle of nonrefoulement, but is concerned at allegations that individuals have been removed from the Niger, in accordance with administrative or extradition procedures, despite the proven risk that they could be subjected to torture or ill-treatment in the country of return. The Committee refers in particular to the cases of the 145 Sudanese nationals who, in May 2018, were returned to Libya, the country from which they had fled after suffering mistreatment 4 GE.19-22137