E/CN.4/1997/7/Add.3
page 4
I.
THE USE OF TORTURE
5.
According to information received by the Special Rapporteur, crime
prevention and investigation activities by the security forces frequently
include the use of torture as a method of obtaining information or as
punishment, especially when dealing with low-income sectors of the population,
in a society characterized by high crime rates. The security bodies mentioned
1
as being responsible are the criminal investigations police (PTJ),
the
2
Directorate of Intelligence and Prevention Services (DISIP),
the
3
Metropolitan Police (PM) and the State police forces.
The National
Guard (GN) 4 and the army have also been reported as responsible for cases of
torture, in particular in border areas with high levels of conflict. The most
commonly used methods reported were repeated beatings, with kicks, punches and
blunt objects, near suffocation by placing over the head a plastic bag
sometimes containing irritants, hanging by the manacled wrists or by the feet,
immersion of the head in water, application of electric shocks, cigarette
burns, etc. Detainees are also frequently blindfolded during torture to
prevent them from identifying the officials responsible.
6.
Torture usually takes place at the time of arrest or in the hours or
days following the arrest. It should be noted in this connection that police
bodies which make arrests are required by law to place at the disposal of the
PTJ the people they detain on suspicion of participation in an offence.
According to article 10 of the Judicial Police Act, which considers all police
bodies to be auxiliaries of the judicial police, the steps they take are of
probative value provided they are not nullified during the criminal
proceedings.
7.
The detainee should be handed over to the PTJ, one of the bodies
responsible for preparing criminal proceedings and in charge of conducting the
investigation, within the shortest possible time. In accordance with
article 75 (H) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the judicial police shall
place the detainee, within eight days at most of the date of arrest, at the
disposal of the Examining Tribunal, which shall take a decision concerning
detention within 96 hours, except in serious and complex cases requiring a
longer time period, which is not to exceed eight days. Non-governmental
sources reported that the eight-day time-limit, of which the police make
frequent use, before the detainee is placed at the disposal of the judge for
verification of his physical condition and consideration of his petitions, is
too long and is conducive to the use of torture, and is frequently not
respected. The same sources also indicated that detainees are not always
immediately handed over to the PTJ by the other police bodies; representatives
of the Public Prosecutor’s Office said that the time-limit for doing so was
72 hours.
8.
Notwithstanding the prohibition of incommunicado detention set forth in
article 60, paragraph 3 of the Constitution, and the obligation for the police
under the Constitutional Rights and Guarantees (Protection) Act to grant the
detainee access to his family and lawyer, it is apparently not infrequent for
detainees to be held incommunicado during the period mentioned above, without
contact with relatives, lawyers or representatives of the Public Prosecutor’s
Office, or for the latter to be told that the detainee is not being held,
which subsequently proves to be false. It is also not infrequent for visits