- 13 2. Torture and other forms of ill-treatment 17. In the course of its visit, the CPT's delegation met a large number of persons who alleged that they had been ill-treated while in police custody; in some of the cases, the severity of the illtreatment alleged could be considered to amount to torture. The allegations emanated from both prisoners with whom the delegation spoke in prisons and persons held in some of the police establishments visited. It is also noteworthy that several detained persons who stated that they had not been ill-treated by the police nevertheless alleged that others in police custody at the same time had been; some of these persons attributed the absence of ill-treatment in their cases to the fact that they had from the outset confessed and/or provided other information sought by the police. Further, certain of the non-governmental organisations consulted by the delegation also presented allegations of ill-treatment by the police, though most of the cases to which they referred were not very recent. 18. The general picture which emerged from the delegation's discussions with detained persons and others was that the frequency and severity of ill-treatment by the police had certainly diminished as compared to the situation some years ago. Nevertheless, it appeared that the illtreatment of detained persons by police officers remained fairly commonplace for at least certain types of criminal suspects (notably those suspected of drug-related offences) and that in the case of persons suspected of very serious crimes, resort could still be had on occasion to severe illtreatment/torture. Further, the delegation heard consistently that ill-treatment took place for the most part at the time of arrest and/or in police headquarters and central police stations; few allegations were heard of ill-treatment in smaller police establishments. 19. It should be added that the delegation also heard a significant number of allegations of rough treatment in the course of the transfer of detained persons from one part of the country to another. The strong disapproval of the quality of the personnel assigned to the guarding of prisoners during their transfer, expressed by police officers in charge of one transfer station visited by the delegation, lent credence to these allegations. 20. Kicks, punches, slaps, stamping on feet, etc. were the most common type of ill-treatment alleged; further, a number of allegations of blows with the butt of a pistol or wooden sticks were heard. A few quite recent allegations were heard of an even more serious kind, in particular of falaka or the administration of electric shocks; such treatment was said to have been inflicted at the Athens and Thessaloniki Police Headquarters. Some of the persons making allegations of ill-treatment were found on examination by medical members of the delegation to display physical signs (eg. bruises, scars) consistent with their allegations.