A/HRC/40/59/Add.3 106. The Special Rapporteur reiterates that torture can only be prevented if oversight mechanisms and international organizations such as the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the ICRC are granted unfettered access to all places of deprivation of liberty. V. Conclusions and recommendations A. Conclusions 107. Throughout his visit, and irrespective of the territories visited, all of the Special Rapporteur’s interlocutors emphasized their unequivocal commitment to the absolute and non-derogable prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. 108. Despite noticeable improvements in the recent past throughout the governmentcontrolled territory of Ukraine, the information collected by the Special Rapporteur indicates that torture and ill-treatment continue to be practised with impunity throughout the country, including in territories outside the control of the Government. 109. The Special Rapporteur received persistent allegations of torture and illtreatment at the time of arrest and during interrogation, both at the hands of national police and State security services and at the hands of security services established by the de facto authorities in Donetsk and Luhansk. 110. Regardless of the authority concerned, the reported ill-treatment followed a common pattern of intimidation, punishment and forced confessions. In addition to acts or threats of sexual violence and insults, the most frequent methods of torture allegedly include kicking and beating, electric shocks, suffocation, suspension techniques and mock executions, including against teenagers as young as 14 years old. 111. Formal investigations into the numerous allegations of torture and ill-treatment appear to be rare on both sides of the conflict line, thus creating a strong perception of impunity. 112. While the Special Rapporteur welcomes ongoing reforms of the penitentiary system in the government-controlled territory of Ukraine, living conditions in many detention facilities remain difficult and most of the infrastructure is in dire need of renovation. The Special Rapporteur notes with particular concern that children between the ages of 14 and 18 are held under inappropriately harsh conditions in the same institutions as adult detainees. 113. In the territories controlled by armed groups in Donetsk and Luhansk, the Special Rapporteur found the detention regime to be extremely oppressive and intimidating, with inmates being prevented from freely communicating with his team. While the infrastructure seems generally comparable with that in areas controlled by the Government, the Special Rapporteur strongly deplores the fact that the conditions under which he had to make his visits to places of detention in Donetsk and Luhansk did not allow for a reliable assessment of the treatment prevalent there. 114. Furthermore, the Special Rapporteur reiterates his grave concerns at a system of “preventive” and “administrative” detention recently introduced in Donetsk and Luhansk respectively, under which detainees can reportedly be held without access to a lawyer and or any outside communication for up to 60 days. Any practice of such incommunicado detention is known to facilitate the perpetration of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and can in itself amount to such abuse. The Special Rapporteur urges the de facto authorities of Luhansk and Donetsk to immediately terminate any practice of incommunicado detention and to respect universally recognized safeguards concerning the liberty, security and dignity of the person. 115. While fully recognizing the difficult circumstances Ukraine is facing in the presence of an armed conflict and multiple threats against the sovereignty and 16