CAT/C/ROU/CO/2 ensure that the court always seeks the opinion of a psychiatrist who is not attached to the psychiatric institution admitting the patient; (b) Ensure that every patient, whether he or she is hospitalized voluntarily or involuntarily, is fully informed about the treatment to be prescribed and is given the opportunity to refuse treatment or any other medical intervention, and ensure that involuntary placements are subject to an automatic periodic review; (c) Ensure effective legal safeguards for persons in such institutions, including the right of effective appeal, establish an independent complaints mechanism and ensure that patients are granted independent legal representation enabling them to have their complaints relating to the living conditions in the institution concerned, their health and their treatment examined before a court or another independent body, and provide redress to victims; (d) Urgently improve the conditions and treatment in psychiatric hospitals and institutions for persons with psychosocial disabilities; (e) Promptly and effectively investigate all cases of death in psychiatric hospitals and institutions, prosecute those responsible for acts of torture, ill-treatment or wilful negligence, punish them with appropriate penalties and provide redress to the victims. Secret detention centres and rendition flights 15. The Committee is concerned at persistent allegations of illegal detention of persons in secret detention facilities of the Central Intelligence Agency and of extraordinary rendition flights into and out of Romania in the context of the country’s international cooperation in countering terrorism. It is also concerned that, in his application filed in 2012 with the European Court of Human Rights, Abd al-Rahim Hussayn Muhammad AlNashiri claimed that he had been illegally detained and tortured in an Agency detention facility in Romania; this is currently being investigated by the Romanian Prosecutor General. The Committee is also concerned at the discrepancy between the information provided by the State party, and the statements made in December 2014 by the former head of the Romanian intelligence service which indicated that the authorities had allowed the Agency to operate detention facilities between 2003 and 2006 where inmates allegedly suffered inhumane treatment (arts. 2, 3, 12 and 16). The Committee encourages the State party to continue its investigations into the allegations of its involvement in a programme of secret detention centres, and of the use of its airports and airspace by aeroplanes involved in “extraordinary rendition”, and to inform the Committee of their outcome. The Committee requests the State party to provide it with information about the outcome of any ongoing investigations regarding the case of Abd al-Rahim Hussayn Muhammad Al-Nashiri. National preventive mechanism 16. The Committee welcomes the establishment of the national preventive mechanism under the Optional Protocol to the Convention. The Committee is, however, concerned that it is reportedly not functioning as a fully operational national preventive mechanism (art. 2). The State party should allocate adequate financial and staffing resources to ensure the independence of the office of the Ombudsman, in order to enable it to function effectively in its distinct role as the national preventive mechanism. It should also ensure that the mechanism has a multidisciplinary team that includes persons with medical and psychiatric expertise, and that the mechanism visits regularly all places where persons are deprived of their liberty. The Committee encourages the national 8