that reason, and also because it is in breach of the Constitution and the law on political parties, this “movement” has not been recognized by the authorities. 4.11The State party indicates that the complainant is making unsubstantiated allegations to the effect that “the Tunisian authorities have not criminalized these acts of torture …”. According to the State party, this allegation is given the lie by Act No. 99-89 of 2 August 1999, whereby the legislature amended and transposed a number of provisions of the Criminal Code and incorporated the definition of torture as set out in the Convention against Torture. Complainant’s comments on the State party’s observations 5.1In a letter of 7 May 2002, the complainant challenged the State party’s argument that he was supposedly unwilling to turn to the Tunisian justice system and make use of domestic remedies. 5.2The complainant believes that the recourse procedures are excessively protracted. He notes, in this context, that the appeal procedure against his conviction in 1995 comprised 18 sessions, lasting from June 1995 to the end of May 1996. According to the complainant, these delays were entirely due to the authorities, who repeatedly postponed consideration of his appeal because they were embarrassed to have to convict a person - who, to make matters worse, was a political opponent - for illegally attempting to leave the country. He says that this conviction would in itself be harmful to the image of the regime and that this made it harder to hand down a stiff sentence. He believes that this delay in a simple appeal procedure demonstrates that the lodging of a complaint of torture - even assuming that such a complaint would be accepted - would be an even more protracted process. The complainant also describes how, when his name appeared in various reports by non-governmental organizations, including after his conviction in 1995, the authorities reacted by worsening the conditions in which he was held, subjecting him to mental and corporal punishment and transferring him to prisons far from his family home, and harassing his family, who were placed under stricter supervision. In support of his arguments, he cites the case of Mr. Abderraouf Khémais Ben Sadok Laribi, who died in police custody as a result of illtreatment. According to the complainant, even though the dead man’s family lodged a complaint of intentional homicide against the Minister of the Interior on 9 August 1991, and even though the case received extensive media coverage, as a result of which his family received material compensation and an interview was granted with an adviser of the President, the case was closed without any effective investigation, while the minister in office at the time was given full protection by the Government. 5.3The complainant also believes that the recourse procedures would not lead to any satisfactory remedies. He enumerates the efforts he made, to no avail, in 1992 to seek a medical examination and, in 1995, to secure protection from the judicial authorities against the ill-treatment to which he was being subjected. For that reason, it seemed unlikely to the complainant that he would obtain satisfaction from the judicial authorities. The complainant explains that his case with the magistrate was not an isolated instance and, in that context, submits an extract from a report by the Tunisian Committee for Human Rights and Freedoms. He maintains that the judicial system is not independent and gave him no protection when he was convicted in 1992 and 1995. He says that he has been a victim of the “culture of torture” in Tunisia and that it was psychologically very difficult for him to submit his complaint to the Committee against Torture for fear of reprisals against his family. He adds, lastly, that his hunger strikes against his ill-treatment failed to bring any results, apart from some material concessions. Similarly, the letters he wrote to the administration of the prisons following these hunger strikes also proved unavailing. In addition, the transfer of the prison service to the Ministry of Justice has done nothing to change the complicity of the service in such practices. The complainant cites extracts from reports by the International Federation for Human Rights and the Tunisian Committee for Human Rights and Freedoms in support of his observation that complaints of torture do not succeed and that the authorities exert pressure to prevent the lodging of such complaints. He also maintains that the administrative supervision under which he was placed, which involved constant supervision by eight different authorities, accompanied by acts of intimidation, meant that lodging a complaint would have placed him in danger. 5.4The complainant also challenges the State party’s arguments that a Tunisian lawyer can be instructed from abroad to lodge a complaint. 5.5The complainant describes serious encroachments by the authorities on the free and independent exercise of the legal profession. According to the complainant, lawyers who dare to defend complaints of torture are subject to harassment and other abuses, including prison sentences. As an example, he cites the cases of the lawyers Néjib Hosny, Béchir Essid and Anouar Kosri, and quotes extracts from reports and statements by Amnesty International, the World Organization against Torture, the International Federation for Human Rights and the International Commission of Jurists. He adds, also on the basis of these reports by non governmental organizations, that none of the complaints lodged by victims of torture over recent years, particularly following the promulgation in 1988 of article 13 bis of the Code of Criminal Procedure, providing for the possibility of medical visits, have been followed up. He also explains that, in certain cases, medical checks have been allowed after a long delay, once all traces of torture have disappeared, and that the checks are sometimes carried out by compliant doctors who will fail to find anything wrong with the detainees’ physical condition, even if there are traces of torture. The complainant believes that, in these circumstances, it would not make much difference to appoint a lawyer. 5.6The complainant also cites as an obstacle the fact that not only is legal aid not an established practice in Tunisia, but that the procedures involved are not accompanied by the necessary safeguards. 5.7The complainant also stresses that the lodging of a complaint from abroad with the Tunisian authorities is likely to be covered by article 305, paragraph 3, of the Tunisian Code of Criminal Procedure, which provides that “any Tunisian who commits any of the offences mentioned in section 52 bis of the Criminal Code abroad may be prosecuted and brought to trial, even if the aforementioned offences are not punishable under the legislation of the State in which they were committed”. The complainant believes that a complaint submitted by him from abroad could be construed as an insult against the regime, given that the State party has declared him to be a terrorist. 5.8The complainant also explains that his situation as a political refugee in Switzerland precludes him from successfully concluding any