and recommendations of the Advisory Council on Human Sights, a bill had also been adopted to amend the Code of Penal Procedure, reducing the length of police custody and pretrial detention. Other recommendations of the Council were expected to lead to improved monitoring of pretrial detention, an increase in judicial police staff, improved living conditions in detention centres, priority handling of cases of pretrial detention, observance of timelimits for the handling of cases submitted to the Special Court of Justice, and post-mortem examinations in cases of death in custody. The representative also mentioned that the teaching of humanitarian law and human rights had been extended to military ana police academies as well as to the National Institute for Judicial Studies and that during 1991 a number of prisoners had been released. Liberty and security of the person 50. Members of the Committee wished to know what remedies were available to persons or their relatives who believed that they had been detained wrongly, and whether those remedies were effective; how guickly after arrest a person's family was informed; what was the maximum legal period of detention without trial, and whether there was any provision for a regular review by a court of such detention; and whether the examination of the draft reform of the Moroccan Criminal Code, mentioned in paragraph 53 of the report, had been completed and, if so, with what results. 51. In addition, members of the Committee wished to know whether the Oufkir family was still being detained and, if so, what legal conditions governed their detention; whether there were currently or had been in the recent past secret detention centres; whether there were currently any political detainees and, if so, how many; what conditions prevailed in places of detention, particularly Tazmamart prison, and whether any prisoners had been released from that prison; what had happened to the 61 military officers sentenced on 29 March 1972 in the Skirat trial and on 7 November 1972 in the Kenitra trial; how an abuse of authority was differentiated from a mere error in proceedings; whether extensions of the length of detention were monitored; and what percentage of persons arrested were being subjected to extended detention, where such persons were being held, and why they had not been released. 52. Members also wished to know whether the new bill limiting the duration of pretrial detention had come into effect and, if not, what was the reason for the delay; what provisions were contained in that bill with respect to timelimits on detention, preventive detention, access to lawyers and the guestion of the acceptance of police statements as evidence; how preventive detention was defined and what were the applicable procedures; whether proceedings had been instituted against the police in cases of arbitrary detention and, if so, what disciplinary measures had been applied; whether there was any procedure, similar to habeas corpus or arnparo, which would permit a detainee to test the legality of his detention, particularly in the case of prolonged imprisonment; whether the practice of linking the duration of remand in custody to the penalty for the relevant offence was compatible with the principle of the presumption of innocence; whether persons could be imprisoned for failure to pay a debt; whether the reported practice of detaining innocent relatives of persons suspected of crimes was still being resorted to; and whether political prisoners of Western Saharan origin had disappeared or died in custody and, if so, whether any such cases had been investigated. -11-

Select target paragraph3