legal assistance. However, the practice shows that these are so-called “pocket” or “on-duty” lawyers who do not discharge their functions adequately, are not engaged in investigation activities with the participation of victims of torture, they sign criminal case files without becoming familiar with them, and sometimes they play the role of mediators and persuade the defendants to take guilt upon themselves. In this regard, the UN Special Rapporteur in his report following the country mission to Kyrgyzstan recommended that the authorities improve the assignment of defence lawyers by the state for protecting those suspected of and charged with committing an offence, and defendants.112 In the course of the monitoring, any person held in TDFs and reception centres under internal affairs bodies and PDFs under the SSEP could tell the members of the monitoring groups about cases of torture and ill treatment used against them. The experience and competence of monitoring groups’ members that included well-known human rights activists, staff members of the Ombudsman’s Office and members of the Public Oversight Bodies under the MoI and SSEP allowed documenting every substantiated allegation of torture and ill treatment. Allegations of torture received from respondents in the course of the monitoring were immediately referred to prosecutors that are by mandate tasked to verify complaints about torture and consider the issue of initiating criminal proceedings against those guilty. The following five nongovernmental organizations monitored the follow up on torture allegations and provided qualified legal assistance:  Human Rights Protection Centre Kylym Shamy, Bishkek;  Jalal-Abad province human rights organization Spravedlivost, Jalal-Abad;  Public Foundation Luch Solomona, Osh;  Public Foundation Golos Svobody, Bishkek;  Public Association Youth Human Rights Group, Bishkek. All organizations attracted defence attorneys who had experience protecting victims of torture and ill-treatment. In total, during the reporting period non-governmental organization sent as many as 144 complaints about torture to prosecutors, including:  Kylym Shamy - 38, including 6 complaints from persons held in custody in the course of the monitoring in closed institutions;  Spravedlivost - 41, including 36 complaints from persons held in custody in the course of the monitoring in closed institutions;  Luch Solomona - 22, including 14 complaints from persons held in custody in the course of the monitoring study in closed institutions;  Golos Svobody - 43,  Youth Human Rights Group -1, including 38 complaints from persons held in custody in the course of the monitoring study in closed institutions. 112 Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture, para. 81 (b): “ Overhaul the system of State-appointed lawyers completely and replace it with an open and transparent process of fairly remunerated independent lawyers, a process that is not controlled in practice by the investigating officers; and foresee the establishment of national legal aid programmes that guarantee access to a lawyer for all detainees, including prior to interrogation.” 74