A/HRC/34/43 duration of pretrial detention at 12 months for most offences and 24 months for more serious offences such as paedophilia, international drug trafficking and endangering State security. 37. The case of the alleged attack on the Brazilian company Zagope by villagers from Zogota in the region of Nzérékoré, Guinée-Forestière, and the attack by defence and security forces against inhabitants of that village on the night of 3 August 2012, remains pending. F. Administration of justice and conditions of detention 38. In July, the National Assembly adopted new legislation, a new Criminal Code and a new Code of Criminal Procedure, which were promulgated in October. This legislative reform reflects major progress in many areas. A definition of torture that complies with the definition contained in article 1 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment was introduced for the first time. The new Criminal Code incorporates into Guinean law the provisions of many international human rights instruments, such as the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and the observations of treaty bodies, including the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. 39. The death penalty does not feature in the new Criminal Code; the Code no longer provides for the punishment of any offence by that penalty. 40. This reform also confirmed the June 2015 reorganization of the judiciary, which aimed to bring the justice system closer to the people and to reduce the long periods of pretrial detention caused by the failure of the assize courts to sit regularly. The two assize courts, which previously sat in Conakry and Kankan and which were competent to rule on criminal cases, have been disbanded in favour of courts of first instance in each prefecture, including three in Conakry, which are now competent to rule on such cases. 41. However, this reorganization has yet to take effect. In August, the principal prosecutor’s office at the Conakry court of appeal wrote to the Indictments Chamber to formally request that it no longer issue committal orders committing defendants to the assize courts. However, most courts of first instance lack the staff, premises and financial and logistical resources to function properly, consequently placing accused persons in a legal impasse. Hundreds of accused persons are currently being held in prisons around the country without knowing when they will stand trial, the court competent to try them having been disbanded in favour of new courts that are not yet operational. 42. For example, in December 2016 the Conakry prison, which houses three-quarters of detainees, held 1,643 persons, including 643 convicted persons, 67 women and 128 minors. Some accused persons have been awaiting trial for more than 10 years, a situation constituting arbitrary detention (see paragraph 36). 43. The weakness of the justice system has meant that many citizens have lost confidence in it. Revenge and mob justice are increasing at an alarming rate in Guinea. The country office has been informed of a total of 17 cases of persons (all men) who were allegedly killed as a result of mob justice in 2016, including five persons who were abducted from the security services to be lynched. In June, five suspected motorcycle thieves were burned alive by an angry crowd in Nzérékoré. In March, two young men met the same fate, for the same reason, in Macenta, in the administrative region of Nzérékoré, Guinée forestière. Similar cases of mob justice have been observed in the capital, Conakry; in Dabola, Siguiri and Kankan in Haute-Guinée; and in Mamou and Labé in MoyenneGuinée. 8 GE.17-00658