38 A practical guide to the Istanbul Protocol – for lawyers Practical steps • If it is not possible to arrange an expert medical examination, lawyers should try to obtain any type of evidence of the injuries sustained, such as prison medical records, photos, testimonies, etc. Even if this evidence cannot prove that the person was tortured, it can prove that the person suffered physical or mental damage during detention, and thus the burden of proof should in some cases shift to the State apparatus. As the European Court of Human Rights ruled, where an individual is detained in good health but is injured at the time of release, it is incumbent on the national authorities to provide a plausible explanation as to the causing of the injury.160 It is important therefore, to have medical records, testimonies, photos, etc from the detainees before being in custody proving that the person was in good health and then any evidence during his/her detention or after his/her release proving physical or mental injuries while in custody. • Circumstantial evidence may also be helpful to the prosecution of a torture case. For example, evidence of similar fact, e.g., reputed studies of torture practices in the same or similar prison carried out in a similar way to what the victim alleges; human rights reports documenting consistent patterns of abuse. Also, lawyers should ensure that there is evidence to sustain all supporting facts: e.g., that the victim was in prison at the time that the torture is alleged to take place; that the alleged perpetrator was a public official and on duty at the time of the said event; that there was a specific purpose for causing the victim harm (e.g., to elicit information, to intimidate or threaten).