CAT/C/KAZ/CO/3 confessions had been obtained through torture and ill-treatment while they were held incommunicado by the police. Nevertheless, those complaints of torture did not result in any prosecutions. The Committee reiterates its concerns at allegations by Rosa Tuletaeva who alleged that she was tortured by the police by being suffocated with plastic bags and hung by her hair. The Committee also reiterates its concern at the State party’s failure to prosecute the individuals directly responsible for torturing Bazarbai Kenzhebaev, a bystander who died two days after being released from police custody following beatings in police interrogation; only one individual was prosecuted in connection with his death, for “allowing illegal detention and not arranging timely hospitalization”. The Committee notes the 2012 assessment by the former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights that those allegations of torture and forced confessions “do not seem to have been properly investigated”, leading to broader concerns about the fairness of the trials (arts. 2, 4 and 12– 16). The Committee recalls the absolute prohibition of torture contained in article 2, paragraph 2, of the Convention, stating that “no exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture”. The Committee also draws the attention of the State party to paragraph 5 of its general comment No. 2 (2007) on implementation of article 2 by States parties, which states that those “exceptional circumstances” include “any threat of terrorist acts or violent crime as well as armed conflict, international or non-international”. In the light of the above, the State party should: (a) Document and undertake prompt, thorough and impartial investigations into all allegations of torture or other ill-treatment during the events in Zhanaozen; (b) Authorize an independent international investigation into the events, their causes and their aftermath, as proposed by the former High Commissioner for Human Rights during her visit to the State party in 2012; (c) Ensure that alleged perpetrators are duly prosecuted, including persons in position of command and, if found guilty, are punished with penalties commensurate with the seriousness of the crime, in accordance with article 4 of the Convention, including the individuals responsible for torturing and causing the death of Bazarbai Kenzhebaev; (d) Re-examine the convictions of persons who claim to have been forced to confess as a result of torture and ill-treatment in order to verify that there is no violation of the Convention; (e) Provide redress and rehabilitation to the victims of torture and illtreatment, in accordance with the Committee’s general comment No. 3 (2012) on the implementation of article 14 of the Convention by State parties. Fundamental legal safeguards 12. The Committee is concerned at reports that, in practice, detained persons do not enjoy all the fundamental legal safeguards against torture and ill-treatment provided for in the State party’s laws from the very outset of deprivation of liberty, such as the right of a detained person to be informed of his or her rights; the right to meet promptly and privately with a lawyer of his or her choice or to receive the services of a legal aid attorney; and the right to inform a relative or person of their choice of his or her detention and whereabouts. While the State party requires law enforcement officials to register detainees promptly and to hand them over to investigators within three hours of depriving them of liberty, the Committee has received numerous reports that State officials do not adhere to those regulations in practice. The Committee is further concerned at numerous reports that 5