120. Any public servant or any other representative of the authorities who orders or causes to be ordered any arbitrary act against the individual freedom, the civic rights of one or several persons or the prevailing laws suffers criminal sanctions. If he provides justification to the effect that he acted upon a lawful order from his superior, he is exempted from the sanction, which sanction in this case is only applicable to the superior who gave the order (Article 141 of the Criminal Code). The sanction is severer where the person involved is a Minister. The criminal law expressly provides for damages which are calculated per day in arbitrary detention and per person. 121. Furthermore, any accused person who is arrested upon the issuance of an arrest warrant and kept in a prison for more than twenty-four hours without interrogation is considered to have been detained arbitrarily. Judges or civil servants who ordered or knowingly tolerated this arbitrary detention are punishable by the sanctions provided for in the matter (Article 124 of the Criminal Procedure Code). Finally, unlawful detention, kidnapping and illegal arrests are also provided for and punishable by Article 356 et seq. of the Criminal Code. 122. In the face of the upsurge in insecurity, owing in part to the political and social crises in the sub-region, the government operationalized a national domestic security strategy in 2012. The following main actions were taken in 2012: - - strengthening of the operational resources of the security services; construction of an operational coordination centre for the Civil Defence Directorate (DGPC); recruitment of nine hundred and thirty-two (932) security officers; promotion of local policing; implementation of the IRAPOL project (Identification, Rapprochement, Policing) which consists of getting all the security forces to work in synergy towards the fight against crime (Police, Gendarmerie, Customs, Revenue, Water and Forestry, etc., and strengthening of the fight against insecurity towards the organization of day and night patrols as well as swoops throughout the country. 123. These operations ensured the dismantling of several criminal networks and the seizure of knives, firearms as well as huge quantities of hard drugs. In spite of these efforts, insecurity remains one of the main concerns of the people in several regions of Burkina Faso. That is why at its meeting held on 27 March, 2013, Cabinet authorized the special recruitment of 2,000 officers for the Police Service. The objective is to attain a sizeable increase in the staffing position of the Police, representing an increase of 50% of the authorized annual levels of recruitment in the face of the upsurge in insecurity; this was to enable it to pursue the necessary reforms for the strengthening of its security apparatus and for it to be better equipped to meet the expectations of the people. E. Right to a Fair Trial 124. Article 4 of the Constitution grants all Burkinabes and all persons living in Burkina Faso the benefit of equal protection by the law. Everyone is entitled to have his case heard by an independent and impartial court. Similarly, every accused person is presumed innocent until his guilt is established. These principles apply to both nationals and foreigners, without distinction of race, colour, ancestry or national or ethnic origin. The rights of the defence, including the right to freely choose a legal counsel, are also guaranteed for all and before all courts. 33