the Legal Aid Council (LAC) is still pending. Some individual states have established public defender bodies within the Ministry of Justice to provide free legal assistance to residents of the state, but they often have limited capacity. (f) The power to order or approve arrest and supervision of the police and detention facilities should be vested solely with independent courts Police functions to arrest, detain and investigate suspects for offences were vested in a myriad of law enforcement agencies. Time limits and safeguards regarding imprisonment were frequently not complied with, as the Special Rapporteur found that people were sometimes detained for months under police arrest. Non-governmental sources: No action has been taken toward implementing this recommendation. (g) All detainees should be effectively guaranteed the ability to challenge the lawfulness of the detention before an independent court, e.g. through habeas corpus proceedings De facto, the vast majority of detainees did not have the ability to challenge the lawfulness of their detention due to the lack of financial means, the overload of the entire judicial system as well as a climate of fear. Non-governmental sources: A detainee’s power to challenge their detention is dependent on their financial capacity, and poverty restricts the ability of detainees to obtain adequate legal representation. (h) Judges and prosecutors should routinely ask persons brought from police custody how they have been treated and, even in the absence of a formal complaint from the defendant, order an independent medical examination in accordance with the Istanbul Protocol While in principle empowered to do so, judges and prosecutors did not ex-officio enquire about potential torture and illtreatment in police custody. Non-governmental sources: Judges and prosecutors do not routinely ask detainees how they have been treated. (i) Those legally arrested should not be held in While legal provisions foresaw that persons arrested or detained Forensic medical examinations which could sustain complaints were non-existent, even in cases of death in police custody. Non-governmental sources: Following an amendment to the Magistrate Court Law A/HRC/13/39/Add.6 135 vast majority of detainees did not have legal counsel.