12 THE GREEK OMBUDSMAN 1. Legal Framework, Resources and Recent Developments 1.a. Legal Framework and Resources Greece ratified the Optional Protocol with Law 4228/2014, transposing it into national legislation (with, in fact, enhanced formal weight, as an international convention, according to art. 28 of the Constitution). Article 2 of the above law designated the Ombudsman as the National Preventive Mechanism against Torture (NPM). This designation recognised the Ombudsman’s long experience in the protection of rights of persons deprived of their liberty by constantly highlighting arising problems and submitting respective proposals. In this context, the Ombudsman has often undertaken a wider action in the field, by making use of its capacity to investigate cases on its own initiative. Thus, via its new competency as NPM, the Ombudsman goes far beyond its traditional intermediary role, in the context of which it usually investigates cases, after the submission of a complaint, regarding detention conditions of the detainees, tracing structural problems and submitting remarks and suggestions. Furthermore, under the general competence of the Constitution and Law 3094/2003, the Ombudsman has access to all files, documents, data and archives. Based on the above lines of action, the NPM implements its operational planning on monitoring issues related to deprivation of liberty, with the conviction that detention, as the most severe limitation of liberty, should be an exception, inflicted only when it is unavoidable or when no alternative measures can be taken. 1.b. Recent Developments As prescribed by the OPCAT (art. 18§3), national law (art. 6, Law 4228/2014) and SPT guidelines (para. 32, CAT/OP/12/5 of 9-12-2010), the effective functioning of the NPM requires both human and financial resources, i.e. appropriate staffing and financial support: