I. LEGAL FRAMEWORK 1. Optional Protocol to the Conve ntion against torture (OPCAT) The Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture is the first international treaty that establishes a dual system - international and national, for prevention of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. At international level OPCAT establishes a Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (the Subcommittee), and at national level the protocol requires the state to create a NPM. OPCAT identifies three basic functions of the Subcommittee. First, to visit places where persons are or could be detained. Second, to assist and advise the national preventive mechanisms and to make recommendations to the countries with a view to strengthening the capacity and the mandate of the NPM. And third, to cooperate with the relevant UN bodies as well as with the international, regional and national institutions or organizations working in the field of protection of all persons deprived of liberty (PDL). Article 3 of OPCAT requires the Member States to "establish, designate or maintain at a national level one or several bodies to prevent torture and Other Cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment." This or these national bodies represent(s) the national preventive mechanism. Each state that signed OPCAT has its own way to determine its NPM. Some countries have identified existing bodies to carry out the mandate of the NPM, and in other countries new bodies have been created to assume this role. In order for the NPM to function as an independent body, art. 18 of OPCAT establishes an obligation for the countries to provide functional and financial independence of the preventive mechanism, which ensures that the NPM can operate free from any interference from the state. Article 18 contains a specific reference to the principles related to the status and functioning of the national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights ("Paris Principles"). 2. Law on the Ombudsman NPM's function has been delegated to the Ombudsman by the amendments and complements to the Law on the Ombudsman (LO), published in the "State Gazette", issue No 29 of 10 April 2012. New chapter was included in the law , which reflects the requirements of OPCAT: "a" National Preventive Mechanism (new - State Gazette,, issue No. 29/2012, effective as from 11.05.2012) Art. 28 (а) (new - SG, issue No 29 of 2012, effective as from 11.05.2012) (1) The powers of the Ombudsman as a National Preventive Mechanism refer to places where there are persons deprived of liberty, or where persons are detained or accommodated as a result of an act or with the consent of a state body, which places they can not leave at their own will, in order to protect such persons from torture and Other Cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. (2) The Ombudsman shall be entitled to: 1. access without notice at any time to all detention facilities under para 1 and to their facilities and sites; 2. access to all the information on the number of the persons deprived of liberty in the detention facilities under para 1, and the number of these places and their location; 6