E/CN.4/2001/66/Add.2 page 48 3. Ouvidorias 143. Police ombudsman’s offices (ouvidorias) have now been established in some state police departments as an additional oversight body to monitor police behaviour. The first ouvidoria was created in the State of São Paulo in 1995. Since then, ouvidorias have been established in the States of Pará, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and Rio Grande do Sul. They are under the jurisdiction of the State Secretary for Public Security. 144. The ouvidor of the State of São Paulo, who serves as ombudsman for both military and civil police69 reported that during the previous four years his office had received 764 accusations of torture involving some 3,000 people and mainly regarding police misconduct in police stations and provisional detention centres. He regretted that only five criminal investigations had been opened under the Torture Act. All denunciations of police misconduct received by the ouvidoria must first be transmitted to the corregedoria which decides whether there is sufficient evidence to open an administrative inquiry. According to the ouvidor, cases involving military police officers, especially of high rank, are dealt with reluctantly by the military police corregedoria as the corregedor himself is subordinated to the chain of military command. He also pointed out that cases referred to the civil police corregedoria were often not the subject of any investigation. 145. Finally, the ouvidor indicated that the police in the hinterland who commit abuses benefit from almost total impunity. To remedy this situation, he had proposed the decentralization of his office activities. It is reported that two decrees have been approved to this effect but that they had not yet been published at the time of the visit of the Special Rapporteur and could therefore not be implemented. It must be noted that ouvidorias may refer a case directly to the Public Prosecutor’s Office when there is sufficient evidence, even if the case has been previously filed by the police or the corregedoria. The ouvidor stressed that if public prosecutors were able to follow cases from the beginning of the inquiry instead of relying on evidence gathered by the police, this would greatly contribute to the fight against impunity. He, as well as NGOs, alleged that even though public prosecutors have the power to conduct their own investigations, they rarely exercise this power and rely mainly on police investigations, which they never question. 146. In Minas Gerais, the creation of the prison and the civil police ouvidoria, created in 1998, is said to have led to a reduction of torture complaints. This office consists solely of the police ombudswoman, one adviser, one executive secretary and one intern. As there is no legal adviser in the team, it is believed to be difficult for the ouvidoria to have a legal approach to the cases received. The human rights prosecutor is said to be cooperating with the ouvidoria. It was pointed out that cases of complaint against the military police are sent directly to the military staff command. 4. Forensic Medical Institute (Instituto Medico-Legal, IML) 147. Torture victims must request a medical form from a delegado in order to be examined at a Forensic Medical Institute (IML). These Institutes are under the jurisdiction of the same Secretariat as the police, i.e. the State Secretariat for Public Security. According to the São Paulo State Public Prosecutor, upon arrest on judicial warrant a forensic examination of the