A/HRC/28/68/Add.3 12. However, the 2008 amendments also enshrined in the Constitution practices that interfere with fulfilment of the obligation to prevent and eradicate torture. For instance, it accorded constitutional status to the procedure of arraigo penal (pre-charge detention in criminal cases) in cases of organized crime. Under article 16 of the Constitution, pre-charge detention may be imposed for 40 days, renewable for a further 40 days, with judicial authorization, “whenever necessary for the success of the investigation, the protection of persons or legal rights” or when there is reason to believe that the accused might evade justice. The article also permits detention without a judicial warrant in cases of flagrante delicto, “quasi-flagrante delicto” and urgent cases involving serious offences. Article 19 authorizes pretrial detention without formal charges for cases of organized crime and serious offences. 2. Legislation 13. Under federal jurisdiction, torture is defined in the Federal Act on the Prevention and Punishment of Torture, article 3 of which establishes that a public servant commits the crime of torture who, acting in that capacity, inflicts severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he has committed or is suspected of having committed or coercing him into engaging or not engaging in a given conduct. The penalty is 3 to 12 years’ imprisonment, plus fines and debarment from public office. An individual who, at the explicit or implicit instigation or with the implicit or explicit authorization of a public servant, inflicts severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, on a detainee shall also be punishable, as shall the public servant who instigates or authorizes him. The Act requires public servants to report any torture that comes to their knowledge in the course of their duties. 14. The federal definition of torture does not meet the standards of article 1 of the Convention against Torture and article 2 of the Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture. The Federal Act does not refer to torture committed for any reason based on discrimination of any kind and requires that, when an individual commits the crime, the person tortured must be a detainee, thereby unduly restricting the Act’s application. While the international definition only requires proof of intent to cause suffering, the Act requires proof of intent with respect to the purpose for which the torture is committed. The Special Rapporteur draws attention to the current discussion in Parliament of a bill that would remove these discrepancies by using the definition contained in the Inter-American Convention. The choice of the latter definition is in keeping with article 1 of the Convention against Torture, since it offers greater guarantees. 15. All the states define the crime of torture in their legislation, but in most cases these definitions likewise fail to meet international standards. Some state laws are modelled on the Federal Act, while others have their own shortcomings or contain appropriate definitions but impose very light penalties, as in the case of the state of Chiapas. With a few exceptions, such as the Federal District, which uses a definition of torture that comes fairly close to the international definition, the definitions used in state laws also need to be amended to reflect the definition, guarantees and penalties demanded in international norms. 16. The Federal Act recognizes important preventive safeguards, such as the inadmissibility of evidence or statements obtained under torture and confessions made in the absence of legal counsel and the obligation on examining physicians to report any torture observed. The Act organizing the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic and the Federal Act on the Public Defender’s Office require the staff of those institutions to prevent and report any torture that they observe in the course of their duties. GE.14-25288 5