A/HRC/6/19 page 66 According to testimonies from some of those detainees who have been released, reports by lawyers and family members, and statements made by the defendants in court, the statements were extracted under torture and other forms of ill-treatment during the initial period of detention. During this period, the defendants were held incommunicado in the police-run Forensic Evidence Department and Criminal Investigations Department, as well as in NISS detention facilities in Khartoum. Defendants have stated in court that during the police investigation they were forced to make statements in front of a judge who registered them as “confessions”. All of those who registered “confessions” later retracted their statements in court, saying that they had been tortured and told by the police investigators what to say. According to reports by former detainees, the prosecutor responsible for overseeing the police investigation failed to respond to evidence that the detainees were being subjected to torture and ill-treatment. Some of the detainees reportedly still bore traces of torture when they were brought to trial, but the court failed to order medical examinations of the detainees to determine their causes, despite being requested by defence lawyers. While the court did not order investigations into the allegations of torture, it has recognized that the statements of the remaining ten defendants were extracted under duress and will be given less weight in court evidence. Released defendants who reported that they had been subjected to torture stated that they will not be lodging complaints because they did not believe that such complaints would be investigated by the Sudanese judiciary. (iii) Lack of accountability for summary executions, arbitrary detention, forced disappearances and torture The group of experts received various allegations of arbitrary detention and forced disappearances, torture and summary executions during recent months, including the following examples: On 30 June 2007, in Nyala (South Darfur) market, two secret policemen, wearing civilian clothes arrested nine men. They detained them in a secret police office next to Nyala Wasat police station. Six policemen allegedly severely beat all of the men with sticks. They were arrested due to suspicion of stealing and released on 1 July 2007. In Al Daein, South Darfur, three men were being held on suspicion of possessing stolen goods. They were first arrested and detained by Military Intelligence and later transferred to the custody of the NISS before being handed over to the police. One of them reported that he had been severely beaten while being interrogated by Military Intelligence personnel. The other two did not report any ill treatment. After spending a total of nine days in various detention facilities, the men were released on bail after the police failed to bring charges against them. Their detention exceeded the time limit allowed by law. The men had been released on bail pending police investigation but no formal complaint had been filed against them. On 14 July 2007, in Omdurman IDP camp, El Salaam, one 30 year old civilian was shot. On the same day, in Al Daein, South Darfur, three men including two national staff of an international NGO were arrested by Military Intelligence on suspicion of stealing a car. The men were interrogated but were never charged with an offense. Nevertheless, military intelligence continued to hold them in detention. Friends and relatives have been granted limited supervised access to visit them in detention.