183. In the instant matter, the obligation to permit access to counsel or independent legal advice was breached, as detailed above. The African Commission is convinced that the Victims were not given access during the critical early stage of detention, including interrogation sessions, when there is the greatest risk of torture and ill-treatment. The African Commission‟s view is that right of a detainee to have prompt recourse to a court is established as a matter of international law. It constitutes a vital aspect of the prevention and deterrence of torture and other ill-treatment. 184. In this regard it is worth mentioning that in the Robben Island Guidelines, the African Commission has recognized that the right to be brought promptly before a judicial authority constitutes an essential safeguard against torture and ill-treatment,100 In its General Comment No. 2, the Committee Against Torture expressed the view that the obligation to take measures to ensure the effective prevention of torture implied a requirement that States should ensure “the availability to detainees and persons at risk of torture and ill-treatment of judicial and other remedies that will allow them to have their complaint promptly and impartially examined, to defend their rights, and to challenge the legality of their detention or treatment.”101 185. This approach has been repeatedly endorsed by the General Assembly,102 and finds further support in the jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.103 100 Robben Island Guidelines (above, n. para. 27 (in relation to “Safeguards during the pre-Trial Process”); and see in general, ibid., para. 20. 101 Committee against Torture, General Comment No. 2 (above, n. 24), para. 13. 102 See, e.g., Principles 9 and 11 (1) of the UN Body of Principles and GA Res. 61/153, 14 February 2007, para. 11 103 See, e.g., Habeas Corpus in Emergency Situations (Arts 27(2) and 7(6) of the American Convention on Human Rights), Advisory Opinion OC-8/87, Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Series A, No. 8 (1987). 55