A/68/44 Fundamental legal safeguards (10) The Committee is concerned that the fundamental legal safeguards of detainees are often violated and that arbitrary arrests and detention could take place. The Committee is concerned that some periods of custody exceed the legal time limits, particularly outside the capital. It is also concerned that legislation provides for the assistance of a lawyer only as of the 25th hour of deprivation of liberty, and that lawyers have only 30 minutes to speak to their clients in private. The Committee is also concerned that the assistance of a lawyer is not systematically guaranteed for poor persons from the beginning of proceedings but only at the trial stage, and that suspects are not always given the opportunity after their arrest to immediately consult a judge and a doctor and to contact their family (arts. 2 and 11). The State party should: (a) Immediately take effective measures to guarantee that all persons deprived of their liberty enjoy all the fundamental legal safeguards from the outset of their detention, namely the right to be informed of the reasons for their arrest and to have prompt access to legal counsel and, if necessary, to legal aid; (b) Ensure that detainees can be examined by an independent doctor or a doctor of their choice, contact a member of their family, be brought before a judge without delay, and have the legality of their detention examined by a court, in accordance with international standards; (c) Release and compensate all persons detained irregularly or arbitrarily; (d) Establish a procedure in the Code of Criminal Procedure allowing the victims of miscarriages of justice to receive reparation. Impunity and investigations (11) The Committee is deeply concerned by: (a) The total impunity of perpetrators of acts of torture and the State party’s statement that the Togolese courts currently have no legal means to punish torture, and that there are therefore no examples of judgements in this respect. The Committee is concerned by the information indicating that, to date, no court has been able to directly apply the provisions of the Convention, even where the courts have evidence of acts of torture before them, because there is no legislation criminalizing and punishing such acts. The Committee is very concerned that no criminal proceedings appear to have yet been initiated against the perpetrators of the acts of torture committed on the premises of the National Intelligence Agency in 2009, even though detainees have given details of the torture and ill-treatment to which they claim to have been subjected during their detention, as well as the names of the perpetrators; (b) Judges’ reported refusal to deal with cases of torture committed by the security forces, which contributes to impunity and represents a denial of justice for victims of torture. Furthermore, the Committee is concerned that allegations of torture and illtreatment in detention are not systematically and thoroughly investigated, and that those responsible for acts of torture are apparently subjected only to disciplinary sanctions which are not commensurate with the severity of their acts; (c) The fact that the 13 recommendations in the report of the National Human Rights Commission published on 27 February 2012, which was commissioned by the Government to investigate allegations of torture and ill-treatment on the premises of the National Intelligence Agency and elsewhere, have not yet been implemented and that the persons responsible for the acts of torture on those premises appear to have remained in their posts or been promoted after short suspensions of 30 to 45 days imposed as a disciplinary measure (arts. 2, 12, 13 and 14). GE.13-46043 87