Nils Melzer, visited Turkey between November 20 and December 2, 2016. The visit, originally planned for August 2016, but was postponed to December and limited to five days by the Turkish government. According to the Melzer's report investigation and prosecution of torture allegations were extremely rare, indicating a “de facto impunity for acts of torture and other forms of ill-treatment.” He also added that he heard persistent reports of severe beatings, punches and kicking, blows with objects, falaqa, threats and verbal abuse, being forced to strip naked, rape with objects and other sexual violence or threats thereof, sleep deprivation, stress positions, and extended blindfolding and/or handcuffing for several days. Many places of detention were allegedly severely overcrowded, and did not have adequate access to food, water or medical treatment. Also, both current and former detainees alleged that they had been held incommunicado, without access to lawyers or relatives, and without being formally charged, for extended periods lasting up to 30 days. He noted that physical signs of torture were visible only on a limited number of people he was able to meet in the allocated period, “most probably due to the time that had elapsed between the alleged abuse and the visit.” The Turkish government has denied allegations of torture, blaming it on "a pre-packaged misinformation campaign formed by members of FETÖ" which the Turkish government regards as a "terrorist" organization. Suspects are blindfolded and handcuffed immediately after detention. Even common criminal suspects are stripped naked during interrogation and left like that, often after being hosed with ice-cold water or left on the concrete floors of cells in harsh conditions of winter. The HRA and the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (HRFT) determined 37 torture techniques, such as electric shock, squeezing the testicles, hanging by the arms or legs, blindfolding, stripping the suspect naked, spraying with high-pressure water, etc. These techniques are used by the special team members and other interrogation teams. Foot whipping (Turkish: "falaka") was the method most frequently applied, until Prof. Dr. Veli Lök discovered a method of bone scintigraphy that enabled him to detect effects of it a long time after torture. There are many more methods applied in Turkey during the past and the present. In the annual reports of the Treatment and Rehabilitation Centres of the Human Rights Foundation the list of methods covers one page. The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture observed that "the most severe methods of ill-treatment encountered in the past by CPT delegations has diminished in recent times".