366. In addition, it was inquired what the impact had been on the level of violence in the country of the establishment of the Office of the Presidential Adviser for the Defence/ Protection and Promotion of Human Rights and the Office of the Presidential Adviser for Rehabilitation, Normalization and Reconciliation; what measures had been taken to provide assistance to persons displaced by the violence; what specific measures had been taken to prevent mass murders by paramilitary groups; what was the average period as well as the maximum length of pretrial detention and remand in custody under the 1990 Anti-terrorist Act and during a state of emergency; and whether persons deprived of their liberty could be held incommunicado. Further information was also sought on article 233 of the Penal Code. 367. In his reply, the representative of the State party emphasized that, in response to the firm stand taken by the President/ preventive measures had been adopted to avoid the recurrence of acts of torture, disappearances and extrajudicial executions. Senior military officers had condemned such illegal actions, generally committed by low-ranking officials, and there had been official requests to external bodies to investigate allegations of violations perpetrated by the military. Investigations of members of the police or armed forces accused of extrajudicial executions, homicide, torture or mass murder were carried out by examining magistrates from civilian or military courts. To address the problem of disappearances, which remained of serious concern, a new national investigation body, the Fiscalfa, had been established to coordinate investigations and assist with the identification of victims who had been killed. 368. The new Code of Penal Procedure had established measures intended to reduce the possibility of torture while in detention. In 1991, the length of time an individual could be detained before being charged had been reduced to 5 days in civil cases and 24 hours in cases of detention under military jurisdiction. In addition, the Red Cross had been given access to all places of detention. Public attorneys, lawyers from the Office of the AttorneyGeneral and municipal officials routinely visited prisoners and the police and military were required to notify municipal officials within 24 hours of any arrest. Another protection was the requirement for immediate access to a lawyer upon arrest and the prohibition of incommunicado detention. Furthermore, under article 29 of the Constitution, confession or testimony not given freely could not be used in court proceedings and detained persons could remain silent and could not be forced to testify against themselves or their families. As a consequence of those measures, complaints of torture had dropped drastically although some complaints of torture during the time of transfer to a place of detention after arrest were still being received. Specific cases of torture that had occurred under the old system were still being investigated and over 200 military or police personnel accused of violence against persons, such as murder, mass murder or torture, had been suspended. 369. The Office of the Presidential Adviser for the Defence, Protection and Promotion of Human Sights received complaints and reports of human rights violations and carried out follow-up work on investigations conducted by other institutions. The Office of the Presidential Adviser for Reconciliation, Normalization and Eehabilitation formulated policies aiming at a negotiated peace with guerrilla groups and followed cases of abduction, summary execution and other acts carried out by guerrillas. The Office of Public Defender -87-