"...The Committee most strongly deplores these most recent and serious allegations which detail a long list of trade unionists who have been arrested, detained, tortured and sentenced to many years of imprisonment for the exercise of their trade union activities, including the mere sending of information to the FTUB. The Committee recalls once again that respect for civil liberties is essential for the exercise of freedom of association and that workers and employers should be able to exercise their freedom of association rights in a climate of complete freedom and security, free from violence and threats and that a climate of violence, in which murders and disappearances of trade union leaders go unpunished, constitutes an extremely serious obstacle to the exercise of trade union rights and that such acts require severe measures to be taken by the authorities. The authorities should not seize on legitimate trade union activities as a pretext for arbitrary arrest or detention. Furthermore, as regards, more specifically, torture, cruelty and ill-treatment, the Committee points out that trade unionists, like all other individuals, should enjoy the safeguards provided by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and governments should give the necessary instructions to ensure that no detainee suffers such treatment (see 1994 General Survey on freedom of association and collective bargaining, paragraphs 29 and 30). The Committee therefore urges, once again, the Government to provide information on measures adopted and instructions issued without delay so as to ensure respect for the fundamental civil liberties of trade union members and officers and to take all necessary measures to release all those who have been imprisoned for the exercise of trade union activities immediately and to ensure that no worker is sanctioned for the exercise of such activities, in particular for having contacts with workers? organizations of their own choosing. The Committee firmly hopes that the Government will soon be in a position to indicate progress in this respect..."