A/HRC/13/39/Add.5 punished with sentences far below of what would be required. While the CAT Committee in its State reporting procedure has interpreted the obligation for an adequate punishment as a long-term prison sentence similar to other most serious crimes,46 a review of the experiences of my fact-finding missions leads to the sobering conclusion that perpetrators were predominantly punished with disciplinary sanctions and light or suspended prison sentences. The forms of disciplinary punishment normally do not go beyond the demotion of rank, delay of promotion or freeze of pay raise. These sanctions are an affront towards the victims, lack any meaningful acknowledgment of their suffering, and are void of any deterrent effect, therefore putting further persons at risk. 78. The lack of appropriate sanctions finds one explanation in the wrong conceptualisation of torture in many criminal codes as earlier outlined. Instead of holding perpetrators accountable for the offence of torture, perpetrators are sentenced under related but not similarly grave offenses. These “weaker” paragraphs provide for more lenient sentencing, allow for the payment of a fine instead of mandatory imprisonment, or for a statute of limitations rendering the entire prosecution obsolete. Citing the Austrian example, since torture is not defined as a crime with appropriate penalties in the Austrian Criminal Code, many prosecutors and judges did not develop a proper awareness about the seriousness of this crime. When the Gambian citizen Bakary Jassey a few years ago was seriously tortured by four police officers as a reprisal for his refusal to be deported to his country of origin, the prosecutor and the judge in Vienna agreed that a suspended prison sentence of six and eight months, respectively, was sufficient. The four policemen were originally not even dismissed from the Vienna police force, and the victim so far has not received any adequate reparation for the harm suffered.47 79. The prosecution of torture under weaker elements of a crime is not only the result of the lack of an adequate definition of torture. On numerous occasions, prosecutors without any factual necessity opted to prosecute torture under weaker elements of other crimes even when there was an adequate definition of torture available. More often than anticipated during my fact-finding missions, I encountered an alarmingly close relationship between prosecution services, judges and the police. While a strong cooperation between their institutions is essential for the overall effective prosecution of crimes, their modus operandi seemed to jeopardize the separation of powers, undermine the independence of the judiciary, and foster a culture of impunity. I received numerous credible allegations that prosecutors and judges, due to their close personal relations with police officers in their every day work, refrained from applying the law at all or to apply it with the rigor it would require. 80. The lack of appropriate sanctioning of torture means that there is no significant deterrence. In most of the countries I visited, and I strongly assume that this conclusion has a wider validity, torture offenders have a very good chance not to face any severe 46 47 24 See Ingelse, 342,who, on the basis of the practice of the CAT Committee, refers to an average punishment of between 6 and 20 years of imprisonment. Letter of Inquiry by Member of Parliament Mag. Terezija Stoisits, and colleagues to the Minister of Interior regarding the abuse of Bakary J., detainee pending deportation, XXII. GP.-NR. 4255/J, 17 May 2006; Ministry of Interior, XXII. GP.-NR. 4206/AB, 14 July 2006, http://www.parlinkom.gv.at/PG/DE/XXII/AB/AB_04206/imfname_067732.pdf; Empfehlungen des Menschenrechtsbeirates an die Frau Bundesminister für Inneres aufgrund der strafrechtlichen Verurteilung von vier Polizeibeamten nach § 312 StGB (Fall Bakary J.), September 2006 http://www.menschenrechtsbeirat.at/cms15/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=127:2 00609-strafrechtliche-verurteilung-von-vier-polizeibeamten-nach-s-312-stgb-fall-bakary-j&catid=67:empfehlungen-2006-&Itemid=83. Only in early 2010 were the policemen dismissed on the basis of a judgment by the Supreme Administrative Court.