E/CN.4/1997/7/Add.3 page 12 He also said that the internal supervision and control system based on the Guard's hierarchy was in itself a guarantee that abuses would not be committed and that a member who committed an offence would never be protected. 37. The Chief of the Zulia State Police said that cases where citizens had received serious injuries at the hands of the Zulia police had occurred, but that they were being investigated. He also said that much of the problem was due to the lack of proper training of police staff. II. PROTECTION OF THE RIGHT TO AN EFFECTIVE REMEDY FOR THE VICTIMS OF ACTS OF TORTURE A. Disciplinary procedures 38. All the police bodies, including the PTJ, the Metropolitan Police, the DISIP and the National Guard, have internal disciplinary procedures through which, these bodies' authorities assured the Special Rapporteur, those responsible for acts of torture are appropriately punished. The PTJ has a Directorate-General of Inspection which monitors the various services, and within it, a discipline division. The internal disciplinary procedure can be initiated ex officio or on application. If the internal investigation reveals that an offence has been committed, the case is transferred to a criminal court. Also according to the Disciplinary Rules, the Director can suspend a staff member from his post and salary for 30 days while the individual's responsibility is being determined. Under the same rules, ill-treatment of detainees is considered to be a serious offence, and it is for the Director to decide on appropriate punishment. The Special Rapporteur was also told that 103 disciplinary inquiries for physical and psychological ill-treatment of detainees had been opened between March 1994 and April 1996. 39. As regards the Metropolitan Police, article 64 of its new General Rules of Procedure 9 stipulates that “no police officer shall inflict, instigate or tolerate any act of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, or use as justification for such acts an order by a superior or special circumstances such as threat of war, state of emergency, internal disturbance or conflict, suspension or restriction of constitutional guarantees, threat to national security, internal political instability or any other public emergency”. The same article stipulates that “torture is understood as being any intentionally-committed act inflicting physical or mental ill-treatment, pain or suffering on an individual for purposes of criminal investigation, as a means of intimidation or personal punishment, as a preventive measure or for any other reason”. “Torture shall also be interpreted as the use of methods tending to suppress an individual's personality or diminish his physical or mental capacity, even without causing distress or physical pain.” Article 66, for its part, stipulates that when police officers have reasons to believe that any of the above-mentioned behaviour has occurred or is about to occur they are bound to inform their superiors and, if necessary, any appropriate authority or body vested with reviewing or remedial power, so that the violation may be made good. These provisions are clearly based on the 10 United Nations Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials. 40. The Director-General of the Metropolitan Police said that the Metropolitan Police also have an internal disciplinary procedure that may