E/CN.4/1996/35/Add.2 page 4 5. When the Committee against Torture, which was established to monitor the implementation by the States parties, including Chile, of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, considered the second periodic report of Chile in November 1994, it recommended the adoption of measures to make the security forces subordinate to the civil authorities and the abandonment of all vestiges of the legislation enacted by the military dictatorship. 1/ The Special Rapporteur fully endorses those recommendations. 6. The persistence of the above-mentioned features has a significant influence on the treatment of human rights questions, not only regarding violations that might occur in the present or in the future, but more particularly regarding those which occurred under the military Government. One of the most important aspects in that connection is the maintenance of the Amnesty Act of 1978, which prevents the prosecution of those responsible for violations committed between 1973 and 1978. Although there are many cases currently before the courts, also involving events subsequent to 1978, only extremely few have resulted in judgements clarifying the facts, which is tantamount to making impunity the general rule and is in sharp contrast to the seriousness of the facts described in the report of the National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation. 7. The Commission did not analyse the practice of torture per se, focusing only on executions and disappearances. However, no one is unaware that torture was practised systematically in connection with detentions for political reasons. The National Compensation and Reconciliation Agency has not looked into cases of torture during the previous period either; its work has basically consisted of helping the National Commission assess cases and provide relatives with compensation. Cases of torture not followed by death or disappearance do not give rise to compensation through this means. In such cases the only remedy available lies before an ordinary court. 8. The Ministry of Health has, however, established a medical aid programme called the Programme of Compensation and Full Health Care for Victims of Human Rights Violations (PRAIS). This programme has been functioning regularly in various parts of the country. It is aimed at providing care to individuals suffering from physical or mental consequences of ill-treatment to which either they or members of their family were subjected by the security forces, which covers victims of torture. Agency authorities told the Special Rapporteur that they had received statements from individuals who had been disabled as a result of torture, but that they lacked a mandate to grant compensation in such cases. There are also serious difficulties in gathering evidence of participation by State officials in such cases, largely because of the secrecy in which torture was practised. The only assistance possible for such individuals is medical assistance, with no attention given to other aspects that are also very important, such as reinsertion into the labour force. PRAIS is also dealing with victims of ill-treatment subsequent to 1990. 9. On his visit to Chile the Special Rapporteur received up-to-date information on developments in proceedings relating to three cases of persons tortured and executed during the period of the military Government: Mario Fernández López, Carmelo Soria Espinosa and Carlos Godoy Echegoyen. The