62 The Independent Commission for Human Rights - ICHR they are not subjected to torture or ill-treatment. These visits provide a preventive measure against torture and ill-treatment. Additionally, in accordance with the Penal Procedure Law and Law on the Correction and Rehabilitation Centres (Prisons) as amended, the legal powers endowed on the Minister of Justice, Attorney General, presiding judges of regular courts, and Minister of Interior in respect of detention and prison facilities provide a tool for the prevention of torture and ill-treatment. In this context, the West Bank-based HJC emphasises that presiding judges of regular courts visit prisons and detention centres on a monthly basis. The Public Prosecution also confirms that prosecutors carry out periodic and unannounced visits to detention facilities and correction and rehabilitation centres. 2.1.2.6 Accountability for violations of the right to physical integrity The law criminalises torture. According to Article 32 of the Amended Basic Law, torture is a crime. Criminal and civil cases resulting from torture may not be subject to any statute of limitations. The PA will guarantee a fair remedy to those who suffer from such damage. Along this vein, Article 208 of the Jordanian Penal Law No. 16 of 1960 applicable in the West Bank provides that “(1) Whoever inflicts any form of violence and force, not allowable by law, with the aim of obtaining a confession for committing a crime or information regarding such a crime, shall be punished by imprisonment from three months to three years. (2) If the acts of violence and force result in an illness or injury, the penalty shall be from six months to three years unless such acts are punishable by a harsher penalty.” Also, pursuant to Article 108 of the British Mandate Penal Law No. 74 of 1936 in force in the Gaza Strip, “[a]ny person employed in the public service who subjects or orders the subjection of any person to force or violence for the purpose of extorting from him or from any member of his family confession of an offence or any information relating to an offence, is guilty of a misdemeanour.” Additionally, the law created specialised mechanisms for the criminal prosecution of accused individuals. These include security personnel if they commit a crime in the course, or by reason, of the performance of their official functions. This is applicable by the Public Prosecution, Military Prosecution, regular courts, and military tribunals which have jurisdiction to prosecute accused military personnel. Security agencies also established internal mechanisms for disciplinary prosecution. These are set to discipline security personnel, who commit acts criminalised by law or run counter to approved codes of professional conduct, including conduct that results in torture or ill-treatment. This mechanism is in place in the West Bank in, e.g., the Bureau for Grievances and Human Rights of the Police, MoI Inspector General Office, and complaints units at security agencies, such as the Preventive Security and General Intelligence in the West Bank and the MoI Internal Security in the Gaza Strip. In the West Bank, the ICHR sent letters to the HJC, inquiring about any accountability measures effected by judges against security personnel, involved in violations of the right to physical integrity. The HJC confirmed that judges invalidate, and never count on, confessions extracted under coercion and torture in respective decisions. Judges document accused individuals’ claims in the trial transcript. Judges also demonstrate their actual observations of the accused persons’ bodies and issue orders to refer them to official medical committee for examination, prove claims, and provide medical reports on these claims. Article 24 of the operative Penal Procedure Law obliges all civil servants, including judges, to report crimes that come to their attention. The West Bank-based Public Prosecution stated that it launched investigations into 14 complaints on torture and ill-treatment, filed by citizens against security personnel. Of these, four complaints were remitted to the Military Prosecution to proceed with the accountability of (military) defendants. According to the Penal Procedure Law, the Public Prosecution is responsible for the safety of The Situation of Human Rights in Palestine