A/71/298 practice, States ought to entrust different bodies with separate chains of command with the detention and questioning of persons, to help to protect detainees from mistreatment and reduce the risk of conditions of detention being used to pressure them during questioning. All detainees must be properly registered from the moment of apprehension, a public centralized detention register must be kept and the chain of custody thoroughly documented (see A/HRC/13/39/Add.5). 63. The practice of detaining persons incommunicado and questioning them in unofficial or secret facilities is of grave concern because it exposes individuals to heightened risks of torture. Secret detention amounts to torture or ill -treatment in itself and should be abolished and criminalized under national law. States must ensure that questioning is conducted only at official and accessible facilities, regardless of the form of detention. In the criminal justice system, any evidence obtained from detainees in unofficial places of detention and not confirmed by them during subsequent interviews at official locations ought to be inadmissible in court (see A/56/156). 1. Information on rights 64. Any person arrested or detained must, at the time of deprivation of liberty and before any questioning, be informed of his or her rights and ways to avail himself or herself of those rights (see the Body of Principles). This includes the right to be informed without delay of the reasons — the factual and legal basis — justifying arrest or detention and the right to bring proceedings before the court and obtain appropriate remedies. Persons arrested or detained in connection with criminal charges are entitled to receive prompt information about the charges (see general comment No. 35). 65. Before the beginning of every interview, the information provided must include, at a minimum, the rights to remain silent during questioning; to a lawyer of one’s choice and free legal aid where the interests of justice so require; to consult counsel before questioning and to be questioned in the presence of counsel; and to free and effective interpretation and translation if the individual does not understand or adequately speak the language of questioning (see the Rome Statute, art. 55; and European directive 2012/13/EU). 66. Information should be provided to interviewees in a manner that is sensitive to age, gender and culture and corresponds to the needs of vulnerable persons, and in a language, means, mode and format accessible to and understood by them. Means of verification and documentation that this information was provided must be established, whether by way of printed record, audiotape, videotape or witness accounts (see WGAD/CRP.1/2015). 67. The Special Rapporteur recognizes that the content of some procedural rights may vary, to a limited extent, depending on the legal status of the interviewee and the context of questioning. The provision of precise and accurate information on one’s status and rights before questioning is therefore doubly critical. Authorities may not interview persons as “witnesses” or under the guise of “informative talks” in order to evade the legal safeguards attendant to the questioning of suspects. Any person who is under a legal obligation to attend and remain at an establishment for questioning must be afforded the same rights as a suspect. When a person becomes a suspect during questioning, the interview must be suspended and begin again only if the interviewee has been made aware of this change and has been given a full 16-13568 17/25