A/HRC/34/43 pursuit of confessions and information often pushes the security forces to use torture and ill-treatment against suspects. 17. In April, staff of the country office followed up two cases of torture committed during questioning and interrogation, one by a mixed unit comprising police officers and gendarmes, and the other by a special mobile intervention unit. In both cases, the units usurped the functions of criminal investigation officers, since their tasks are normally limited to arresting suspects and do not include interrogations. The Ministry of Security and Civil Protection imposed disciplinary measures, including the suspension of 12 officers and agents involved in one of the cases. 18. In March, a joint unit comprising police officers and gendarmes, Crime Squad No. 8, arrested a man on suspicion of theft. Officers from the unit tortured him for three consecutive days to force him to admit his involvement. He was then sent to an investigation department within the gendarmerie, where he spent three days in handcuffs. 19. The country office documented other cases that constituted cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, recording 26 injured persons, 25 of whom were admitted to medical centres following violence and ill-treatment at the hands of soldiers during an incident in the prefecture of Mali. The victims included three women. 20. During that incident, which took place in June, the commander of an infantry camp in Mali, Moyenne-Guinée, forced a driver to leave his lorry, slapped him and ordered his guard to whip him. In response, the population demanded that the prefect order the commander to leave the prefecture. This was followed by a confrontation during which soldiers made excessive use of lethal weapons by firing live ammunition. Twenty-five persons were injured during these clashes, including five men who were shot, while shops were set alight and livestock killed. The military region command and the public administration convinced the commander to leave the prefecture. Furthermore, staff of the country office came across a suspect in the reception area of a police station whose feet had been shackled with iron rings. A criminal investigation officer explained that the suspect had been shackled to prevent him from escaping, because the police station did not have a holding cell. The staff remarked on the inhuman nature of the practice, and the rings were removed from his feet. C. Right to freedom and security 21. The right of the individual to freedom and security is recognized by international human rights instruments, namely the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (art. 3) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (art. 9), and by the Guinean Constitution (art. 9). The right to freedom is a pillar of human rights; the deprivation of that right must be justified by a procedure established by law. 22. In the course of the year, staff of the country office made 102 visits to places of detention, including prisons and police custody centres, and recorded 26 cases of arbitrary arrest and 62 cases where the maximum period for police custody, 48 hours, was exceeded. Thanks to the office’s intervention and its arguments in their favour, 74 persons were released, including 22 minors and 7 women. 23. The country office reports that the poor detention conditions described in the previous report saw no improvement in 2016. The prison construction and renovation work begun in 2014-2015 is currently suspended. Overcrowding, squalor, lack of health care, malnutrition and undernourishment have increased significantly, including for women and children. In the vast majority of prisons, including the main prisons in Conakry and Kindia, many women are detained in cramped facilities, where nothing is done to take their particular needs into account. Juvenile wings and cells are also occupied by adults, some of GE.17-00658 5