186. Legislation under which a pers~n condemned to life ~prisonment could be sentenced to solitary confinement for a maximum duration of four years had recently been repealed. Minors under 18 years of age could aow be sentenced to terms of imprisolwent or other forms of custody only in v~ry exceptional circumstanceD. The establishment of an independent investigatory body to deal with allegations of acts of torture was under consideration. The general rule relating to the free evaluation of svideDue was re9ard~d by the legal profession in the country as a sufficient guarantee against mating use of statements elicited through torture. 187. kembers of the Committee commended the Gov~~nment of Finland for its extremely comprehensive and instructive report and thanked the representatives of the reporting State for their informative introduction. The amount and the quality of information provided showed the sincere desire of Finland to eradicate torture and its keen awareness of the areas in which protection was particularly necessary. 188. Members of the Committee wished to receive some clarification about the nature of the applicability of the Convention in Finland since some doubts subsisted as to w~ether the Convention carried the force of internal law and it appeared that a distinctio&o was ma4e among articles of the Convention that were directly applicable, others that were not directly applicable, and still others that gave rise to uncertainty. It was asked, in particular, whether the adoption of a special Act to im~lement the Convention had in any way changed the procedure for ascertaining that officials and authorities complied with the law and did not exceed their powers. In addition, information was requested on the role of the National Research Institute of Legal Policy, especially in relation to torture. 189 With roference to the debate raised in Finland about the need to adopt a definition of torture under criminal law, some members of the Committee recalled that torture was often used as a means of intimidating or even destroying a person and expressed the view that a specific and comprehensive definition of torture had to be included in the Penal Cede, particularly to prohibit the increaeingly common psychological forms of torture. They observed that to assimilate torture to other acts of violence disguised its exceptional nature and reduced the moral stringency of the legislation governing it. In most countries, the provisions of internal law were not ~ufficient to prohibit torture as defined by artlcle 1 of the Convention and the adoption of a precise definition of torture in Finland could encourage other countries to do so. As an alternative, some members of the Committee expressed the view that Finland could supplement or amend existing provisions on acts of violence in ~uch a way as to include all the acts of torture or ill-treatment coverod by article 1 of the Convention. 190. In connection with article 2 of the Convention, further information w~s requested about the roles of the Parliamentary ombudsman and the Chancellor of Justice, their respective areas of competence, and the bill to extend their powers which had been recently submitted to the Finnish Parliament. It was asked, in particular, whether it was correct to assume that the Chancellor of Justice could not take initiatives, what specific measures the Parliamentary ombudsman could take against judges or whether his powers were merely investigatory, and what action the Finnish Government had taken in respect of complaints brought to its attention by the ombudsman. In addition, several -35-