court proceedings was deplored and asked what measures had been taken for the courts to speed up the processing of cases of torture or ill-treatment. They requested details on how the provincial courts worked particularly in the light of a judgement declaring some of the provisions concerning them to be unconstitutional. 442. As to article 14 of the Convention, members of the Committee asked for clarification about the conditions in which a victim of an act of torture could obtain redress, particularly when the guilty person was a public official; and on what basis the subsidiary responsibility of the State or another body under public law could be incurred. 443. Members of the Committee said they would like details about a judgement of the Constitutional Court dated 15 April 1991 which appeared not to have applied the provisions of article 15 of the Convention; and about paragraph 27 of the report, which did not appear to rule out completely statements that were obtained under torture. 444. In his reply, the representative of the State party stated that publication of the report of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture following its visit to Spain was awaiting a political decision by the Council of Ministers. He added that Spain was continuing to make contributions to the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture and for the year 1992 had effectively doubled its contribution. 445. With reference to the allegations if ill-treatment reported by the non-governmental organizations, the representative of the State party briefly described several cases of alleged ill-treatment by the police in Benidorm, Ibiza and Mallorca. Investigations had immediately been initiated by the Public Prosecutor’s Office: in one case, an officer of the local police force was alleged to have used excessive force and, in another case, a sergeant had been charged with an offence punishable by up to two years’ imprisonment. In no circumstances was a public official allowed to exceed his sphere of competence and the penalty imposed in such a case was more severe than that laid down for the same acts committed by a private individual. 446. Pardons granted in respect of acts of torture did not imply any complicity by the authorities with regard to the misdemeanours of officials. In one case involving certain members of the Guardia Civil, a pardon had been granted on account of the period of 12 years which had elapsed since the occurrence and pursuant to the policy of social reintegration; nevertheless, the officials concerned had been dismissed from their duties, although not deprived of their freedom. Suspension of sentence in cases where the penalty was less than one year was not automatic and required a decision by a judicial body. In one instance, the judicial body had ordered that a sentence of four months’ imprisonment concerning a member of the Guardia Civil had to be carried out. 447. With regard to articles 1 and 4 of the Convention, the representative emphasized that any form of degrading or harsh treatment inflicted as punishment was deemed torture and punished accordingly and that the Committee’s concerns regarding articles 204 and 551 of the Penal Code would be duly taken into account in a new Bill shortly to be drafted in Spain. 448. Referring to article 3 of the Convention, the representative emphasized that Spain’s geographical location encouraged many illegal immigrants to seek asylum. There had, however, been no cases involving racism or torture against immigrants or foreigners. If the right of asylum was not granted to a person, he was returned to his country of origin. -70-