Not only torture victims themselves but also those that provide support to them offer valuable reflections on how participation in legal proceedings affects the individual, their family and the wider community. Health and legal professionals working for some of IRCT’s members contributing to this report give examples of psychosocial support provided and highlight best practices. Some of these best practice examples are explained in more detail in the case studies below. Other examples are outlined at the end of the report (p. 54-56). Why is psychosocial support so important for torture victims involved in legal proceedings? Criminal trials generate for victims and their families an intense physical and emotional mobilisation and destabilisation which requires a specialised intervention.” EATIP in Argentina All of IRCT’s members in this report agree that torture victims involved in legal proceedings need to receive specialised psychosocial support at some point during the judicial process. The potentially traumatic effect that legal proceedings can have on a torture victim makes it essential that rehabilitation centres should be able to offer specialised psychosocial support to torture victims throughout the entire legal process. As many of the victims own stories show, a trial creates certain expectations, triggers bad memories and forces the victim to confront the perpetrator. For these and many more reasons, torture victims are often overwhelmed by their experience seeking justice and are fearful of being subjected to threats and intimidation as a result of their participation in the legal process. In order to ease the potentially traumatic impact of justice processes psychosocial and legal support should be adapted to the victim and their family’s specific needs. Wherever possible it should involve the intervention of multidisciplinary actors (lawyers, psychologists, doctors, social workers, etc.) in order to inform the victim of the procedures and manage their expectations as effectively as possible. 32