Annual Report 2012: Spain’s National Preventive Mechanism There must be officers specifically in charge of the custody of detainees A recommendation has been formulated for the handouts informing detainees of their rights to include the term “lawyer” but not “legal counsel”, in order to make it comprehensible to people not familiar with the legal language The majority of the facilities visited still fail to notify detainees in writing of their right to habeas corpus 40 17. At the Civil Guard command headquarters in Huesca it was noticed that there were no officers specifically in charge of the custody of detainees, and this task was being performed instead by the civil guards of the post where the detention took place. As regards certain aspects, there didn’t seem to be any common guidelines for action with the detainees in all posts of the command headquarters, which is something that should be remedied. The Directorate General of the Civil Guard accepted the criterion of this Institution, and proceeded to send all units run by the command headquarters a document with explicit guidelines regarding this matter. 18. As regards the reading of rights to detainees, as established in Article 520 of the Spanish Code of Criminal Procedure (abbreviated as LECrim in Spanish), at some facilities of the local police forces it has been noticed that this document does not exist in several languages. On the other hand and on a general basis, it has continued to be observed that the terms “legal counsel” (letrado) and “lawyer” (abogado) are used in the handouts providing information on rights, contrary to the provisions set forth in paragraphs 476 of the 2010 Annual Report and 45 of the 2011 Annual Report, with the excep­ tion of the leaflets that are used in the Civil Guard barracks in the Algeciras Port (Cadiz) and Vigo (Pontevedra), the Spanish National Police Force station in the Algeciras Port (Cadiz) and the local police station in Zafra (Badajoz). In that regard a Recommendation has been sent to the National Judicial Police Coordinating Commission in order to amend the printed handouts and include only the term “lawyer”. Finally, it should be noted as a good practice of the local police station in Tafalla (Navarre), that it includes the right of minors to conduct a private interview with their lawyer before giving evidence, in compliance with section b) of Article 22 of the Organic Law 5/2000, of 12 January, on the criminal responsibility of minors. In a similar vein, the inclusion on the reading of rights record at the local police sta­ tion in Ejea de los Caballeros (Saragossa) of the mention that “no detainee may be subject to torture or ill-treatment by word or deed”, should be positively noted. 19. The criteria expressed by this Institution in paragraphs 476 of the 2010 Annual Report and 47 of the 2011 Annual Report, that detainees must be notified in writing of the possibility to lodge habeas corpus proceeding is still not complied with at the majority of the facilities visited, with the exception of the Superior Police Depart­ ments in Logroño (La Rioja) and Seville (Western Andalusia), and the police sta­ tions of Leganes and La Latina District in Madrid. On the other hand, in the vast majority of the interviews conducted with detainees, they declared not to have been informed in this respect, not even verbally. During the visit to the Spanish National Police Force station in Algeciras (Cadiz), it was verified that the official report sent to the Court included a formality declaring that the detainee had been notified of his/her right to apply for habeas corpus proceeding. Such formality already includ­ ed, pre-printed and in block capitals, the sentence “he/she does not wish to benefit from said procedure”, without giving the possibility, as other formalities of the same official report, to make any other note in that respect, which should be remedied. THE OMBUDSMAN OF SPAIN