E/CN.4/2001/66/Add.2 page 31 One had seriously injured the other by driving a toothbrush into the neck and stomach of the other, who had subsequently received medical treatment. Nevertheless, his dressings were oozing and it was thought that the pain-killers given to him by the doctor had been kept by the civil police officer who had accompanied him. The two minors had spent more than three months in the dark cells where, because of sanitation problems, they had had to relieve themselves in plastic bottles or bags for the 15 days preceding the visit of the Special Rapporteur. 88. According to NGOs and some public prosecutors whom the Special Rapporteur met in Marabá, police violence is a major problem in the region as in other remote rural regions of the country. Geographically distant from the judicial system, the civil police were said to assume both police and judicial functions at the same time; public prosecutors and judges relied entirely on the police inquiries without questioning the ways in which they are conducted. With respect to the land movement, the conflict between landowners, who are reported often to be public security or judicial officials, and workers has allegedly been very violent, including a large number of cases of extralegal executions and torture. It was alleged that the civil and military police forces were acting as the private militias of landowners. The response from the capital was said to have been inadequate and the judicial authorities are believed not to have assumed their normal responsibilities. II. PROTECTION OF DETAINEES AGAINST TORTURE 89. The norms of criminal procedure and execution of penal sanctions in Brazil are determined mainly in federal legislation, such as the Penal Code (Decree-Law No. 2,848, of 7 December 1940), the Code of Criminal Procedure (Decree-Law No. 3,689 of 30 October 1941) and the Law on the Execution of Sentences (Lei de Execução Penal, LEP - Decree-Law No. 7,210 of 11 July 1984), which are applicable to the whole territory of Brazil.3 States carry the complete responsibility for the operational activities relating to the police and places of detention, as well as the enforcement of judicial sentences. Legal experts and human rights activists stressed that in spite of the fact that protection afforded to criminal suspects and detainees by domestic law is advanced and comprehensive, in many cases, relevant legal norms are not applied in practice. 90. The Special Rapporteur notes that he was given contradictory or inconsistent versions regarding various legal provisions, especially regarding those related to arrest and provisional (pre-trial) detention by his official interlocutors, including from the judiciary. This seems to support allegations by both detainees and representatives of civil society that guarantees established by law are not respected in practice, at least in view of the fact that they are not known by those supposed to implement them. In that respect, NGOs and some officials, in particular the State Secretariat for Justice of Rio de Janeiro, stressed the need for training for police officers and prison guards not only in human rights but also in investigative and security techniques. 91. The state police is divided into two autonomous police forces, the civil and the military police,4 which are both under the control of the state governor. The responsibility for dealing with the vast majority of criminal activity has been assigned to the civil police, on whom it is