A/HRC/WGEID/126/1 Article 16 1. Persons alleged to have committed any of the acts referred to in article 4, paragraph 1, above, shall be suspended from any official duties during the investigation referred to in article 13 above. 2. They shall be tried only by the competent ordinary courts in each State, and not by any other special tribunal, in particular military courts. 3. No privileges, immunities or special exemptions shall be admitted in such trials, without prejudice to the provisions contained in the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. 4. The persons presumed responsible for such acts shall be guaranteed fair treatment in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other relevant international agreements in force at all stages of the investigation and eventual prosecution and trial. Article 18 1. Persons who have or are alleged to have committed offences referred to in article 4, paragraph 1, above, shall not benefit from any special amnesty law or similar measures that might have the effect of exempting them from any criminal proceedings or sanction. 2. In the exercise of the right of pardon, the extreme seriousness of acts of enforced disappearance shall be taken into account. Article 19 The victims of acts of enforced disappearance and their family shall obtain redress and shall have the right to adequate compensation, including the means for as complete a rehabilitation as possible. In the event of the death of the victim as a result of an act of enforced disappearance, their dependents shall also be entitled to compensation. The Working Group would be grateful for your Excellency’s Government cooperation and observations on the following questions: i. Please provide any additional information and comment you may have on the above-mentioned allegations. ii. How does your Government ensure the right to a prompt and effective judicial remedy as a means of determining the whereabouts of persons deprived of their liberty? iii. Please provide information on the applicable criminal legal framework to deal with allegations of enforced disappearance and clarify whether the latter is codified as a separate criminal offence. iv. How does your Government secure that persons alleged to have committed an enforced disappearance are suspended from any official duties during the investigation of the corresponding complaint is carried out? v. How does your Government ensure that any person, having knowledge or legitimate interest, who alleges that a person has been subjected to enforced disappearance is able to lodge a complaint to a competent and independent State authority? How does your Government ensure that enforced disappearances are promptly, thoroughly and impartially investigated by the authority even if there has been no formal complaint and, especially, if it has been impossible to register such a complaint? vi. Please provide information on how does your Government ensure that persons alleged to have committed an enforced disappearance are tried only by the competent ordinary courts, to the exclusion, in particular, of military courts. vii. How does your Government ensure that persons who have or are alleged to have committed enforced disappearance do not benefit from any measures that might have the effect of exempting them from any criminal proceedings or sanction? 30