A/HRC/28/50 2. Right to liberty and security 26. The right to liberty and security is enshrined in article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and guaranteed under article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and article 9 of the Guinean Constitution. It affords individuals an essential guarantee of freedom from arbitrary detention by ensuring that they will not be deprived of their liberty except on grounds specified by law and in accordance with the relevant established procedures. 27. In 2014, the OHCHR office in Guinea visited 107 places of detention and observed numerous cases of illegal arrest and arbitrary detention, both in gendarmeries and police stations and in prisons run by regional authorities. 28. According to the findings of OHCHR, numerous illegal arrests are made during demonstrations and are followed by arbitrary detention. In February 2014, during the above-mentioned events in Fria, the police arrested young men at random, either on the street or at their homes, and sometimes late at night. 29. In addition, OHCHR noted cases in which persons were arrested for acts committed by their family members. In May 2014, a woman was prosecuted for the offence of concealment, which had been committed by her son, who was wanted by the courts. She was remanded in custody in Nzerékoré central prison, in violation of article 55, paragraph 2, of the Guinean Criminal Code, which provides that an offender’s spouse, parents or relatives up to the fourth degree of affinity may not be prosecuted for harbouring a criminal. OHCHR also found that persons who could not honour their civil commitments, such as the payment of debts, were arrested and detained at the Télimélé central police station and by the No. 3 mobile gendarmerie squad in Matam, Conakry. In all these cases, intervention by OHCHR resulted in the detainees’ release. 30. Violations of the right to liberty and security particularly affect persons in pretrial detention on felony charges. Under Guinean law, the Assize Court should convene regularly every four months. In addition, the Code of Criminal Procedure establishes a maximum duration for pretrial detention of 24 months for the most serious crimes. However, a person awaiting trial on charges of rape has been held in Kindia central prison for the past nine years. More than 20 other persons detained on felony charges have been in pretrial detention for periods of more than 2 to 6 years. Since August 2011, five officers of the Guinean military, who were arrested in connection with the attack on the President’s residence on 19 July 2011, have been held in Conakry central prison without trial or renewal of the detention order against them. They were charged with crimes against State security, murder and attempted murder by the indictment division of the Conakry court, and their case was transferred to a military court that has yet to be established, before which they are to stand trial for desertion and failure to obey orders, which carry maximum penalties of 2 and 6 months’ imprisonment respectively under the Criminal Code. 31. In addition, persons in pretrial detention for misdemeanours, for which the maximum duration is 4 months under the Criminal Code, are being held in various prisons, particularly in Conakry, for longer periods, usually without the renewal of the detention order by a judge. 32. Faster processing of the case files of suspects held in police custody and persons in pretrial detention, as well as the use of alternative measures to detention, would help resolve the problem of prison overcrowding and to improve prison conditions. 33. Between January 2012 and June 2014, staff of the OHCHR office in Guinea visited 30 prisons in all eight administrative regions of the country, where a total of 3,110 persons 8 GE.15-03278