E/CN.4/1998/38 page 11 43. According to the information received, it was unusual for complaints to be filed because the victims were afraid of reprisals or considered that the persons who were guilty would never be brought to justice. In addition, the authorities allegedly did not take account of requests by judges in connection with investigations of human rights violations. For example, when orders were given by the public prosecutor for the interrogation of soldiers responsible for human rights violations, the gendarmes would refuse on the grounds that they could not interrogate their superiors. The authorities also made sure that jails and places of detention were beyond the prosecutors' control and set up obstacles to the prosecutors' work in this regard. 44. The Special Rapporteur has transmitted information to the Government on 13 cases, some of them collective, relating to 19 persons, as well as to a number of unidentified persons. He also transmitted an urgent appeal on behalf of eight persons. Observations 45. The Special Rapporteur regrets the absence of a response from the Government, in the light of information indicating the probability that there is extensive resort to torture by the forces charged with keeping public order. Chile 46. In a letter dated 22 September 1997 the Special Rapporteur, as a follow-up to the recommendations he had addressed to the Government after his visit to the country in 1995, requested the Government to provide information on the following matters: (a) The follow-up given to the report by the Constitutional, Legislative and Judicial Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, which proposed eliminating the “arrest on suspicion” provision from the current Code of Criminal Procedure; (b) The follow-up to the bill, shown to the Special Rapporteur during the course of his visit, reforming the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Penal Code with regard to detention and introducing rules to strengthen the protection of civic rights; (c) The situation concerning the draft Code of Criminal Procedure and of the Organization Act relating to the Prosecution Service; (d) The follow-up to the bill submitted by the Government to the Chamber of Deputies in 1996 in order specifically to characterize torture as an offence; (e) Whether or not in the years 1996 to 1997 officers of the forces of law and order had been punished for offences relating to violation of the right to physical integrity of detained persons, and if so, details of these cases.