CAT/OP/KAZ/1 right to be members of the mechanism. The Subcommittee finds this overly restrictive and even potentially contradictory to article 5 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. 26. The Subcommittee is greatly concerned about reported cases of criminal prosecution against members of the national preventive mechanism for work carried out under the mandate of the mechanism. According to the information available to the Subcommittee, a civil libel case was brought against two members of the mechanism. 27. The Subcommittee recommends that an impartial investigation into the circumstances surrounding the above-mentioned cases be conducted, and that the Subcommittee be kept informed about the results of the investigation. In this connection, the Subcommittee would like to draw the State party’s attention to article 21 of the Optional Protocol. 28. In 2015, the national preventive mechanism carried out 528 preventive visits, including 19 special visits. The Subcommittee is pleased that, according to the consolidated report of the national preventive mechanism members on the preventive visits carried out in 2015, the number of preventive visits almost doubled in comparison with 2014. 29. The Subcommittee learned that special urgent visits must be approved by the Commissioner, who also must approve any findings before their publication. This procedure may compromise the independence of the national preventive mechanism, as the Commissioner is appointed by the President and his or her activities are governed by presidential decree. The Subcommittee would like to recall the concern expressed by the Committee against Torture that the national preventive mechanism had not been able to undertake ad hoc visits owing to bureaucratic constraints (see CAT/C/KAZ/CO/3, para. 13). 30. The Subcommittee is concerned that, in the various places visited, many prisoners were unaware of the existence of the national preventive mechanism and had never met a member of the mechanism. 31. The Subcommittee recommends that the State party raise awareness of the Optional Protocol and the mandate of the national preventive mechanism in order to increase the mechanism’s visibility. Recommendations issued by the mechanism should be widely discussed. Moreover, the mechanism should engage in legislative processes and advocacy, as encouraged under article 19 of the Optional Protocol. 32. The Subcommittee also recommends that the State party and the national preventive mechanism enter into a continuous dialogue, with a view to implementing the mechanism’s recommendations to improve the treatment and conditions of persons deprived of their liberty and to prevent torture and other ill-treatment or punishment. IV. General observations on the situation of torture and illtreatment 33. The Subcommittee welcomes the considerable reduction in the number of persons deprived of their liberty and the parallel overall improvement in conditions of detention. However, it found that there was a general atmosphere of intimidation and repression in the places of deprivation of liberty it visited. In the course of its mission, the Subcommittee received a number of credible allegations of torture and ill-treatment, related in particular to the initial stages of deprivation of liberty. For instance, there appear to be instances of excessive use of force during apprehension and immediately after, and beatings with hands and batons and kicking during interrogation. In some cases, a certain degree of psychological pressure appears to have been applied; for example, the police threatened to harm family members. The Subcommittee was also told about instances of “welcome” beatings in quarantine in pretrial detention facilities and some harsh informal disciplinary measures and beatings meted out during searches in penitentiary institutions. 6