A/66/44 dissidents and opposition party members, students, alleged terrorist suspects and alleged supporters of insurgent groups such as the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) and the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). It is concerned about credible reports that such acts frequently occur with the participation, at the instigation or with the consent of commanding officers in police stations, detention centres, federal prisons, military bases and in unofficial or secret places of detention. The Committee also takes note of consistent reports that torture is commonly used during interrogation to extract confessions when the suspect is deprived of fundamental legal safeguards, in particular access to legal counsel (art. 1, 2, 4, 11 and 15). The Committee urges the State party to take immediate and effective measures to investigate, prosecute and punish all acts of torture and to ensure that torture is not used by law enforcement personnel, including by unambiguously reaffirming the absolute prohibition of torture and publicly condemning practices of torture, especially by the police, prison officers and members of the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF), accompanied by a clear warning that anyone committing such acts or otherwise complicit or participating in torture will be held personally responsible before the law for such acts and will be subject to criminal prosecution and appropriate penalties. Impunity for acts of torture and ill-treatment (11) The Committee is deeply concerned at numerous consistent reports about the State party’s persistent failure to investigate allegations of torture and prosecute perpetrators, including members of ENDF and military or police commanders. In this regard, it notes the absence of information on cases where soldiers and police or prison officers were prosecuted, sentenced or subjected to disciplinary sanctions for having committed acts or torture or ill-treatment. The Committee is also concerned about the reported exercise of police functions by ENDF in the Somali Regional State and by private militia groups (arts. 2, 4, 12, 13 and 16). The State party should ensure that all allegations of torture and ill-treatment are promptly and impartially investigated, and that the perpetrators are prosecuted and convicted in accordance with the gravity of the acts, as required by article 4 of the Convention, without prejudice to appropriate disciplinary actions and sanctions. The State party should ensure that law enforcement functions are exercised by the police rather than ENDF, including in areas of armed conflict where no state of emergency has been declared. The State party should prevent the circumvention by private militia groups of legal safeguards and remedies against torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Fundamental legal safeguards (12) The Committee is seriously concerned about information on the State party’s failure in practice to afford all detainees with all fundamental legal safeguards from the very outset of their detention. Such safeguards comprise the right of detainees: to be informed of the reasons for their arrest, including of any charges against them; to have prompt access to a lawyer and, when needed, legal aid and an independent medical examination, if possible by a doctor of their choice; to notify a relative; to be brought promptly before a judge; and to have the lawfulness of their detention reviewed by a court, in accordance with international standards. In this respect, the Committee is concerned that, under article 19 (3) of the State party’s Constitution, the maximum period of 48 hours within which anyone arrested or detained on a criminal charge must be brought before a judge “shall not include a reasonable time taken in the journey to a court of law” and that, under article 59 (3) of the Criminal Procedure Code, remand in custody may be repeatedly prolonged for periods of 14 days each time. The Committee also notes with concern reports about the inadequacy of GE.11-45568 43