The visit did not extend to the occupied part of the island. The CPT expresses the hope that, in the interests of avoiding a vacuum as regards the protection of human rights in that part of Cyprus, appropriate ways and means will be found to enable the Committee to exercise its mandate throughout the island.

The information gathered during the visit indicated that physical ill-treatment by the police remained a serious problem in Cyprus. In their response, the Cypriot authorities describe measures taken to combat police ill-treatment, which include the adoption of legislation that will introduce a presumption of ill-treatment by the police in case a detained person displays injuries at the end of his custody.

The CPT also re-examined the situation at Nicosia Central Prisons, as regards, inter alia, the regime offered to prisoners, confidentiality of medical information, segregation of hepatitis/HIV positive prisoners and treatment of mentally -ill prisoners.

The CPT's report and the response of the Cypriot authorities are available on the CPT’s website (http://www.cpt.coe.int).