various countries to ensure more procedural guarantees in order to ensure provision of information to the detainee of his/her rights as much as possible.222 Access to a lawyer and provision of information to the family - The most important safeguard against ill-treatment of the detainee by the police is timely access to a lawyer, as it is in the first hours of detention that the person is in the most vulnerable position. It should be praised that according to the data processed by the Special Preventive Group by using a statistical programme, the rate of lawyer’s involvement in the first 24 hours significantly improved in 2019. In particular, in 24.6% of criminal cases, the lawyer was involved in the case in the first 24 hours, in 14% of cases - in the first 48 hours, and in 33% of cases - in the first 72 hours.223 According to alternative sources, lawyers mostly meet the detainees for the first time in a temporary detention isolator.224 During interviews with the Special Preventive Group, most of the detainees, as well as most of the lawyers said that police officers advised detainees not to request lawyers, as they do not need them and it is related to serious costs. At the same time, they persuade detainees that if they cooperate with the police, agree to admit to the offence and choose plea bargaining, a public lawyer will serve them free of charge. According to the information provided by the lawyers, there are cases when a lawyer is artificially obstructed to meet a detainee in a police facility225 by being told that they do not know whether exactly the detainee is in the building 222 For example, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture calls on the Lithuanian authorities to ensure without further delay that all persons detained by the police are fully informed of their rights as from the very outset of their deprivation of liberty (that is, from the very moment when they are obliged to remain with the police). This should be ensured by provision of clear verbal information upon apprehension, to be supplemented at the earliest opportunity (that is, immediately upon first entry into police premises) by provision of a written form setting out the detained person’s rights in a straightforward manner. This form should be made available in an appropriate range of languages. Moreover, particular care should be taken to ensure that detained persons are actually able to understand their rights. Report to the Lithuanian Government, European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, CPT/Inf (2018) 2, 01.02.2018, para.23, available at: <https://rm.coe.int/pdf/16807843ca>,[last accessed: 30.01.2020]. The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture calls on the Danish authorities to ensure that detained persons are asked to certify with their signature that information about their rights has been provided to them. The absence of a signature should be explained by the law enforcement agency. Report to the Danish Government on the visit to Denmark carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, CPT/Inf (2019) 35, 28.11.2019, available at: <https://rm.coe.int/1680996859>, [last accessed: 30.01.2020]. 223 Statistics on the involvement of the lawyer during the first 24 hours according to years: 2017 -15%, 2018 11.9%. 224 Out of the 38 detainees interviewed, the lawyer met with the detainee at the police department/station - in 3 cases; in the isolator - 17 cases; in the penitentiary facility - 6 cases; at trial - 4 cases. We have no information about 3 cases. The detainee had no lawyer in 5 cases. This trend was confirmed by 52% of the lawyers interviewed online and the lawyers interviewed by the Special Preventive Group in person. 225 The control of entry into the building of the Police Department of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara by the officers of the Facilities Protection Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs also creates an artificial barrier. 83