CAT/C/29/D/193/2001 page 18 provides that, during preventive incommunicado detention, the lawyer is appointed by the court; that the detainee may not consult with him in private; and that family members or any other person with whom the detainee wishes to communicate are informed neither of their detention nor of the place where they are being held (E/CN.4/2002/76/Add.1, 14 March 2002). 5.7 The complainant also emphasizes that the French authorities did not hesitate to accept the statements made by Mr. Azurmendi on 23 and 24 March 1998 when he was in custody, while they completely disregarded his later statements before the examining magistrate. The authorities of the State party therefore attached an irrebuttable presumption of validity to the confessions obtained on 23 and 24 March 1998. Issues and proceedings before the Committee 6.1 Before considering any claim contained in a communication, the Committee against Torture must decide whether or not it is admissible under article 22 of the Convention. The Committee has ascertained, as it is required to do under article 22, paragraph 5 (a), of the Convention, that the same matter has not been, and is not being, examined under another procedure of international investigation or settlement. In the present case, the Committee also notes that all domestic remedies have been exhausted and that the State party has not objected to the admissibility of the communication. It therefore considers that the communication is admissible. Since both the State party and the author have made observations as to the merits of the communication, the Committee proceeds to the examination to the merits of the case. 6.2 The Committee notes the complainant’s allegations concerning the circumstances in which Mr. Azurmendi’s statements were made, the evidence that she adduced in support of the allegations and the arguments put forward by the parties concerning the obligations of States parties under article 15 of the Convention. 6.3 The Committee considers in this regard that the generality of the provisions of article 15 derive from the absolute nature of the prohibition of torture and imply, consequently, an obligation for each State party to ascertain whether or not statements constituting part of the evidence of a procedure for which it is competent have been made as a result of torture. The Committee finds that the statements at issue constitute part of the evidence of the procedure for the extradition of the complainant, and for which the State party is competent. In this regard, in the light of the allegations that the statements at issue, which constituted, at least in part, the basis for the additional extradition request, were obtained as a result of torture, the State party had the obligation to ascertain the veracity of such allegations. 6.4 The Committee notes that the French authorities, both judicial and administrative, examined the complainant’s allegations and found that they had not been sufficiently substantiated. The Committee also notes that Mr. Azurmendi’s complaint concerning the treatment to which he was allegedly subjected during custody is still being considered by the Spanish judicial authorities, which are expected to rule, at the end of the judicial proceedings, on