169. In relation to article 9 of the Convention, it was recalled that its provisions required that judicial assistance should be granted to all other States parties to the Convention, regardless of whether a treaty on mutual assistance existed, and it was asked whether that requirement was being met in accordance with the principle that the provisions of a convention to which Germany was a party were applied directly. 170. With regard to article 10 of the Convention, it was pointed out that its provisions specifically required medical personnel and the police to be educated about torture and the treatment of torture victims. It was also asked whether there was in Germany a code of ethics for the police and prison staff and whether any effort was being made in faculties of law to instil awareness of the question of torture. 171. As for article 11 of the Convention, more information was requested on measures to prevent violations of human rights during interrogations by the police. 172. Turning to article 14 of the Convention, members of the Committee wished to know whether the compensation referred to in the report concerned torture only or also include other forms of ill-treatment, which court had jurisdiction to hear requests for compensation and whether such cases could be brought before criminal, civil and administrative courts at the same time. 173. In his reply, the representative of Germany stated that, in his country, the concept of torture was hedged about by a body of extremely strict rules; he referred, in particular, to article 104, paragraph 1, of the Basic Law which provided that a person who had been arrested could not be subjected to mental or physical ill-treatment. He also explained that, since the signature of the Unification Treaty on 31 August 1990, the five new Länder which previously constituted the territory of the German Democratic Republic had been united with the Federal Republic of Germany and all the international treaties ratified by the latter and all the laws and codes which had been in force there were fully applicable to them. A number of exceptions were, however, admitted by the Unification Treaty to take into account difficulties connected with the transition period. The applicability of the Convention against Torture in Germany was guaranteed by article 59, paragraph 2, of the Constitution, which provided for the procedure to incorporate an international instrument in national legislation. 174. The representative further informed the Committee that recently a law providing compensation for injustices committed in the German Democratic Republic had been promulgated. It would be followed by a series of other laws that would benefit the victims, and persons who had been imprisoned unjustly would be compensated. Hundreds of proceedings had been initiated in the new Länder for torture and extortion of confessions. Members of the security forces or public officials who had ill-treated prisoners and even caused their death in the German Democratic Republic were subject to punishment. The problem of retroactivity did not arise in such cases since ill-treatment had also been punishable in the German Democratic Republic. A body of case law now existed ensuring the applicability of the law to persons accused of offences committed in the former German Democratic Republic and several members of the militia had been sentenced for killing persons who had tried to cross the Berlin wall. The representative also provided information about the organization of the German judicial system and pointed out that judges were independent and could not be removed from office. Financial assistance was provided by the State to persons who were completely unable to pay the costs of legal proceedings. In addition, the State must, if the situation so required, assign a lawyer to assist a person suspected of a crime or assist the presumed victims. In case of conflict -30-