Chapter 5 • Human Rights and Arrest, Pre-Trial and Administrative Detention The Court has further specified that “the recording of accurate holding data concerning the date, time and location of detainees, as well as the grounds for the detention and the name of the persons effecting it, is necessary for the detention of an individual to be compatible with the requirements of lawfulness for the purposes of Article 5 § 1”.39 The Çakici case In the case of Çakici, the lack of records on the applicant – who was held in unacknowledged detention – disclosed “a serious failing”, which was aggravated by the “findings as to the general unreliability and inaccuracy”of the custody records in question. The Court found “unacceptable the failure to keep records which enable the location of a detainee to be established at a particular time”.40 Considering that, in spite of there being three eye-witnesses to the detention of the applicant, “no steps were taken to seek any evidence, beyond enquiring as to entries in custody records, until after the application was communicated to the Government by the [European] Commission [of Human Rights]”, the Court concluded that there “was neither a prompt nor a meaningful inquiry into the circumstances of Ahmet Çakici’s disappearance”.41 There had consequently been “a particularly grave violation of the right to liberty and security of person” as guaranteed by article 5 of the Convention.42 International law outlaws unacknowledged arrests and detentions. States are accountable for all persons in their custody. In particular, the date, time and location of all detentions must be available to families, lawyers and all competent judicial and other authorities at all times, in official registers the accuracy of which should not be open to doubt. Involuntary or enforced disappearances and unacknowledged detentions constitute particularly serious violations of fundamental human rights, including the right to liberty and security of the person. 39 Ibid., para. 105 at p. 616. 40 Ibid., loc. cit. 41 Ibid., p. 616, para. 106. 42 Ibid., para. 107. Human Rights in the Administration of Justice: A Manual on Human Rights for Judges, Prosecutors and Lawyers 171