constituteproject.org PDF generated: 14 Oct 2013, 20:27 Article 16 Every accused person or detained [person] must benefit from a treatment that preserves their dignity, their physical and mental health and that aids their social rehabilitation No one has the right to obstruct an accused person or detained [person] from being examined by a doctor of their choice. Every accused [person] has the right to be assisted by counsel at the stage of the preliminary inquiry. Article 17 Every person arrested has the right to be immediately informed of the charges brought against them. Article 18 Any accused [person] or suspected [person] is presumed innocent until their culpability has been established following a process that offers them the guarantees indispensible to their defense. The judicial power, guardian of the individual liberty, assures respect for this principle within the conditions provided for by the law. Article 19 Every person has the right in any matter that their cause will be heard and resolved equitably within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial jurisdiction. No one may be condemned for acts that did not constitute an infraction at the moment when they were committed. Outside of the cases provided by the law, no one may be investigated or condemned for the acts blamed on others. The damages resulting from an error of justice or those brought about by an abnormal functioning of the administration of justice give rise to an indemnification at the expense of the State, in accordance with the law. Article 20 No one may be submitted to measures of control or of security outside of the cases provided for by the law. Article 21 The human person is sacred and inviolable. No one may be submitted to torture or to other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatments. No one may evade the punishment incurred by committing such violations by invoking the order of a superior or [that] of a public authority. Any individual, [or] any agent of the State, culpable of such acts, either on their own initiative, or on instruction, will be punished in accordance with the law. Any individual, [or] any agent of the State is relieved of the duty of obedience when the order received constitutes a grave and manifest infringement of the respect of the Rights of Man and of the public freedoms. Togo 1992 (rev. 2007) Page 6