E/CN.4/2001/66/Add.2 page 50 151. The crime of torture was defined nine years later in article 1 of Law No. 9,455 of 7 April 1997 (thereafter: the Torture Act) as follows: “Article 1. A crime of torture is defined as: “I - constraining a person by using violence or serious threat which results in physical or mental suffering; with the purpose of obtaining information, a declaration or confession from the victim or third person; to provoke criminal action or omission; due to racial or religious discrimination; “II - submitting a person under one’s responsibility, power or authority to intensive physical or mental suffering, by his/her use of violence or serious threat, as a way of enforcing personal punishment or as a preventive measure.” Although torture is defined in terms similar to those of article 1 of the 1984 Convention, the definition in the Brazilian law does not entirely reflect the internationally agreed definition of torture. It restricts acts of torture to “violence or serious threat” while the Convention definition refers to “any act”. It thus does not cover acts that are not violent per se, but may nevertheless inflict “severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental”. It must also be noted that according to the Brazilian definition, the crime of torture is not limited to acts committed by public officials. However, it is stipulated that punishment is more severe “if the crime is perpetrated: (a) by a public agent …”.70 152. While the law provides that a person must be sentenced to two to eight years’ imprisonment if convicted of torture, the sentence must be increased by up to one third in the case of public agents.71 The same penalty, i.e. two to eight years’ imprisonment, applies to those “who submit a person who is imprisoned or subject to security measures to physical or mental suffering, by practising an action not contemplated by law or not resulting from a legal measure” (para. 1). Pursuant to article 1 (2), complicity by omission by a person having “the responsibility to avoid or investigate” such conduct must be sanctioned by one to four years’ detention. Paragraph 3 stipulates that “[i]f the crime results in aggravated or extremely aggravated physical injuries, the punishment shall consist of confinement from four to ten years; if it results in death, ... eight to sixteen years”. Finally, article 2 makes the law applicable to the crime of torture not committed on Brazilian territory, provided the victim is a Brazilian citizen or the aggressor is in an area under Brazilian jurisdiction (universal jurisdiction). 153. Before the issuance of the Torture Act, cases of torture had been exclusively classified as abuse of authority (abuso de autoridade), or, inter alia, as battery/bodily harm (lesoes corporais) pursuant to Article 129 of the Penal Code, homicide (where it resulted in death) pursuant to article 121 of the Penal Code, threats (amenaças) pursuant to article 147 of the Penal Code, or illegal constraints (constrangimentos ilegais) pursuant to article 146 of the Penal Code. According to the information received, in particular from public prosecutors, the sentences handed down before the Torture Act came into force ranged from 10 days to 3 months. The number public agents who were acquitted or dismissed was always considerably higher than the number convicted, and of those convicted about 50 per cent were convicted of abuse of authority or bodily harm. When cases did end in conviction, law enforcement officials would appeal and