AI has received further reports of the torture and severe ill-treatment of ethnic Albanian former police officers detained since 17 November 1994. Lawyers defending a number of these detainees stated, at a press conference on 7 December, that they had observed clear signs of torture on their clients. The lawyers also said that they had met with official obstruction while carrying out their professional duties. They also alleged that police, prosecutors and judiciary were working jointly to fabricate cases against their clients. A public prosecutor reportedly denied on 2 December that detainees had been tortured.
