CAT/C/75 page 32 149. In its recommendation 19/2000, the National Commission noted: “On 15 November 1998 sub lieutenant (…), a surgeon assigned to the Twenty-seventh Military Zone, with headquarters in Plaza de El Ticuí, Guerrero, conducted a medical examination of Mr. Carlos Montes Villaseñor. Far from mentioning and classifying the injuries shown by Mr. Montes at the time, the medical report he issued that day stated that Mr. Montes displayed no visible injuries. This was an infringement of article 545 of the Code of Military Justice, which states that experts should take all steps within their power to determine the circumstances on which they base their reports. This is a serious matter, as sub lieutenant (…)’s actions prevented the competent military prosecuting authority from investigating possible torture by members of the 68th Infantry Battalion in Pie de la Cuesta, Guerrero.” 150. In its recommendation 3/2001, the Jalisco Human Rights Commission states: “Dr. P.G.V. testified before the Commission that because of intimidation by police investigators while he was examining the injured parties he was not able to perform his work properly, and issued medical certificates without duly examining the detainees; this indicates the intimidating effect that the mere presence of police investigators produces.” 151. Recommendation 5/2000 of the Office of the Baja California State Procurator for Human Rights and Civic Protection cites the following statement from a detainee: “Before being photographed by the press, he and a doctor were taken to the second floor in the courthouse area, where the doctor examined him. When he had taken off his clothes and the doctor began to examine him he noticed bruises on his body and asked him what had happened. As police officers were present and he was afraid, he replied that he had fallen. The doctor again asked him what had happened to his wrists, and he replied that slight pressure had been applied to them; in the end, the doctor wrote out a prescription and that was all.”24 152. The Committee members were able to meet with medical experts attached to some of the public attorneys’ offices visited and to consult the medical certificates in the files of many of the detainees whom they met. The files should contain certificates from the pubic attorney’s office doctor and prison doctor. In the case of detainees who alleged that they had been tortured the certificate issued by the public attorney’s office doctor was at times missing from the file, on other occasions mentioned no injuries whatsoever, and on other, rarer, occasions, gave a detailed description of the injuries.25 In the great majority of cases, the file included the certificate issued by the prison doctor, which often did mention injuries. In no case, however, were the causes of the injuries mentioned, there being simply an indication of their severity in terms of the time they would take to heal. 153. Some interviewees mentioned the fact that many medical experts lacked training in torture-related issues, especially those attached to public attorneys’ offices and those in rural areas. Others noted their lack of independence from the police or public attorney. Recommendation 5/2000, Office of the Baja California State Procurator for Human Rights and Civic Protection, states: “These medical references afford stronger grounds for affirming that Héctor Alejandro Gutiérrez and Luis Enrique Medina Castillo were subjected to treatment that qualifies as torture, and that, despite the denials by public prosecutor’s office officials and the fact that Dr. Aurelio Rojas Navarro of the State Attorney-General’s Office Expert Services, did not record the injuries described