E/CN.4/2001/66/Add.2
page 6
I. THE PRACTICE OF TORTURE: SCOPE AND CONTEXT
A. General issues
7.
During the course of the past few years (see E/CN.4/1999/61, paras. 86 et seq. and
E/CN.4/2000/9, paras. 134 et seq.), the Special Rapporteur had advised the Government that he
had been receiving information according to which police routinely beat and tortured criminal
suspects to extract information, confessions or money. The problem of police brutality, at the
time of arrest or during interrogation, was reportedly endemic. The failure to investigate,
prosecute and punish police officers who commit acts of torture was said to have created a
climate of impunity that encouraged continued human rights violations. The Special Rapporteur
had also transmitted information on the prison conditions, which were reported to be notoriously
harsh. Severe overcrowding was alleged to be prevalent throughout the prison system. As a
result, prison riots were said to be a common occurrence and prison guards were reported to
resort to the use of excessive force. Even though internal legislation might provide adequate
provisions to safeguard detainees’ human rights, a combination of corruption, lack of
professional training for prison guards and lack of official guidelines and effective monitoring of
abuses was said to have prompted an ongoing crisis in the penitentiary system. Torture was also
believed to be used as a punishment by prison officers who allegedly apply illegal collective
“punishment”.
8.
In its Initial report on the implementation of the Convention against Torture and Other
Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Government recognized that “[t]he
existence of a law which characterizes crimes of torture and the measures of the federal
Government and some state governments to curb the perpetration of this crime so as to prevent
inhuman treatment from being imposed on prisoners are initiatives which are slowly changing
the situation of the issue in Brazil. The persistence of this situation means that police officers are
still making use of torture to obtain information and force confessions, as a means of extortion or
punishment. The number of confessions under torture and the high incidence of denunciations
are still significant .... Demands of prisoners at police stations for medical, social or legal
assistance, or to change certain aspects in the prison routine are not always peacefully welcomed
by police officers or agents. It must be observed that retaliation against prisoners involving
torture, beatings, deprivation and humiliation are common …. Many of these crimes remain
unpunished, as a result of a strong feeling of esprit de corps among police forces and reluctance
to investigate and punish officials involved with the practice of torture. .… The lack of training
of police officers and penitentiary officials to carry out their duties is another important aspect
affecting the continuation of the practice of torture.”1
9.
During his mission, the Special Rapporteur received information from non-governmental
sources and a very large number of accounts by alleged torture victims or witnesses, of which a
selection is reproduced in the annex to this report, indicating that torture is widespread and, most
of the time, concerns persons from the lowest strata of the society and/or of African descendant
or belonging to minority groups. It must be noted that a large number of detainees feared
reprisals for having spoken to the Special Rapporteur and a significant number of them therefore
refused to make their testimonies public. The most commonly reported techniques used were
beatings with hands, iron or wooden bars or a palmatória (a flat but thick piece of wood looking