[T]he principle of the rule of law that establishes the need for criminal prosecution of all crimes by the State, cannot justify an unlimited length of time to resolve the criminal matter. Otherwise, there would be an implicit assumption that the State always prosecutes guilty people and that thus the length of time taken to convict the accused is irrelevant. By international standards, all persons accused of a criminal offense must be considered innocent until proven guilty. […] [T]he risk of inverting the presumption of innocence increases with an unreasonably prolonged pre-trial incarceration. The guarantee of presumption of innocence becomes increasingly empty and ultimately a mockery when pre-trial imprisonment is prolonged unreasonably, since presumption notwithstanding, the severe penalty of deprivation of liberty which is legally reserved for those who have been convicted, is being visited upon someone who is, until and if convicted by the courts, innocent. The right to defense also guaranteed in the Convention under article 8(2)(f) is threatened by lengthy incarceration without conviction because, in some cases, it increases the defendant's difficulty in mounting a defense. With the passing of time, the limits of acceptable risks that are calculated into the defendant's ability to present evidence and counterarguments are enhanced. The possibility to convene witnesses diminishes as well as the strength of any counterarguments. --Case 11.245, Report Nº 12/96, Giménez case, Annual Report of the IACHR 1995 (paras. 78-81). D.4 Incommunicado Detention United Nations The Human Rights Committee has expressed concern over the risks inherent in the practice of incommunicado pre-trial detention, including the possibility of infliction of torture or ill-treatment: The Committee expresses concern at the maintenance on a continuous basis of special legislation under which persons suspected of belonging to or collaborating with armed groups may be detained incommunicado for up to five days … [and] emphasizes that those provisions are not in conformity with articles 9 and 14 of the Covenant. It urges the State party to abandon the use of incommunicado detention. --CCPR/C/79/Add.61, paras. 12, 18 (1996). ***** 51