Part II Preventing torture: NHRIs in action | Section I Promoting an effective legal framework Appearing before a judge Anyone who is arrested should be brought promptly before a judge. The judge should ensure that the person’s arrest and detention are legal. The judge will also be able to investigate any complaint that the person may raise. Even in the absence of a formal complaint, the judge should be able to take action ex officio if there are visible injuries or other indications that torture or ill-treatment may have occurred. 3.2. Other detention procedures The following detention procedures focus specifically on the deprivation of liberty by police officials. They set out recommended best practices by international and regional mechanisms, such as the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture. In 2006, the Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions adopted detailed procedural standards on interrogation – the Minimum Interrogation Standards – developed by its Advisory Council of Jurists. Registers Maintaining official registers provides a crucial safeguard for detainees. They are an important tool for recording the location of each person throughout the period of their detention, as well as making sure that proper detention procedures are followed. Registers should be kept rigorously in all places of detention and police stations. The registers should be readily accessible to all concerned parties.27 Gaps and inconsistencies in register entries can alert monitoring teams to potential risks for torture or ill-treatment. Separating interrogation and custody Interrogation and custody should be the responsibility of different bodies. Different agencies have different priorities, different areas of expertise and different chains of commands. The involvement of different agencies can help protect detainees from the possibility that the conditions of their detention will be used to influence their behaviour during interrogation. In addition, each agency can act as a check on the work of the other. Code of conduct for interrogations There should be a code of conduct which sets out detailed and specific standards for the conduct of police interviews. The code should address issues such as the permissible length of the interview, rest periods, the location and identity of persons to be present during the interview and interviewing a person under the influence of drugs. The process of developing this code is useful in itself as it encourages police officials to consider what practices are appropriate and effective for their work. The code of conduct should be publicly available and provided to all persons deprived of their liberty. Audio and/or video recording of interrogations Audio or video recording not only brings greater transparency to the interrogation process, it can also provide significant advantages for the police. Audio or video recording helps monitor and ensure that an established code of conduct is followed by police during interrogations. 27 In its general comment No. 20, the Human Rights Committee states that “[t]o guarantee the effective protection of detained persons, provisions should be made for detainees to be held in places officially recognized as places of detention, and for their names and places of detention, as well as for the names of persons responsible for their detention, to be kept in registers readily available and accessible to those concerned, including relatives and friends” (para. 11). Chapter 3: Promoting legal and procedural reforms | 33