A/HRC/19/57 Group’s report on its official mission to Angola from 17 to 27 September 2007 (A/HRC/7/4/Add.4). In the context of the Working Group’s recommendation to avoid arbitrary detention, the Government points out to Law No. 18-A of 17 July 1992, Pre-trial Imprisonment Law, which establishes a maximum detention period of five days before a person is brought to the Public Prosecutors. Article 3 of the aforementioned law allows the detainees to be kept incommunicado prior to the first interrogation. In case of strong suspicion of commission of the crime in flagrante delicto, and depending on the nature of the offence, a citizen may be placed in pretrial detention for a period from 30 to 135 days. 33. Article 64 of the 2010 Constitution of Angola provides that an ordinary law may deprive a citizen of his liberty. Article 73 of the Constitution provides that citizens have the right to take legal action, file complaints or denounce acts that undermine their rights. Article 74 of the Constitution allows the right for popular action and article 75 provides for disciplinary and criminal measures for any Government officials and agents responsible for violations of rights, freedoms and guarantees enshrined in the Constitution. 34. According to the Government, the constitutional framework has reinforced the work of the Attorney General’s Office. All prosecutors are required to abide by pretrial detention periods prescribed by law and to oversee arbitrary deprivation of liberty. In this context, article 64 of the 2010 Constitution indicates the conditions under which public entities may detain a person and establishes the institution of the investigating judge, who has as his or her main function to protect the rights and freedom of citizens. The Government notes the elaboration of the following bills to modify the provisions of the 1929 Code of Criminal Procedure and to further avoid any unlawful detention: (a) amendment and revocation of various provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure and of Executive Order No. 35007 of 13 October 1945; (b) Statute governing the special proceeding for missing persons; (c) Statute governing measures for interim relief, in all phases of the criminal proceeding; (d) Statute governing habeas corpus, and; (e) Statute governing searches, seizures and arrests. 35. With regard to pretrial detention, the Government notes that, for crimes carrying a correctional penalty, the detention period ranges from 3 to 30 days; for crimes punishable by long-term imprisonment – from 45 to 135 days; and for crimes against State security – from 90 to 125 days. The Government notes the overall level of compliance with these periods. 36. In respect of the Working Group’s recommendation to reduce overcrowding in prisons, the Government of Angola points to a number of measures undertaken during the period 2007–2010, such as restoration, construction and expansion of prisons. The Angolan Judiciary created a special commission within the Provincial Court of Luanda to hear defendants who had been awaiting trial for a period of two to five years and a technical commission of judges and the Public Prosecutor, prison directors and clerks to better monitor the overcrowding in prisons. 37. The Government stresses that these and other measures have contributed to the decrease in the number of defendants awaiting trial. At present, the period for detainees awaiting trial has dropped to approximately one year. This improvement is also due to the expansion of the training programme at the National Institute of Legal Studies intended for judges and prosecutors in Angola. 38. The Government indicates that 1,570 prisoners were released nationwide for a variety of reasons, some of them involving irregularities and illegal detentions. Of the 1,570, 1,347 were in pretrial detention and 223 convicted. 39. As part of an effort to reduce the overcrowding, the President granted a pardon in April 2009 to mark the seventh year of actual peace in Angola, set forth in Presidential Decree No. 11 of 3 April 2009, which permitted all convicted prisoners who had served half of their sentence by 31 March 2009 and those whose sentences did not exceed a period 15