CCPR/C/125/D/2657/2015
The facts as submitted by the author
The author’s detention and torture
2.1
On 6 December 2007, at around 6.30 p.m., the author was stopped by officers of the
Guardia Civil as he was walking in the vicinity of the town of Bérriz, Bizkaia Province, in
the Basque Country. The officers asked to see his papers. As they went through his belt
pouch, the officers noticed that he was carrying a revolver. They pushed him to the ground,
pulled down his trousers, handcuffed him and began to kick him. He was later transferred
by patrol car to the premises of the Guardia Civil in the La Salve district of Bilbao.
Throughout the journey, the officers kept the author with his face pressed against the
window and held a weapon to his temple and forbade him to open his eyes.
2.2
Once at the premises of the Guardia Civil in the La Salve district, the author was
hooded and interrogated by four people in an effort to get him to “name names”. He was hit,
mainly in the testicles, and held at gunpoint. He was later taken to another room where
officers told him that he would remain in incommunicado detention.
2.3
Three hours later, the author was taken to the General Directorate of the Guardia
Civil in Madrid. Throughout the journey, which lasted approximately four hours, he was hit
by one officer while another placed a plastic bag over his head and held it closed with his
hands around the author’s neck, causing him to suffocate. At one point, the vehicle stopped
because one of the officers said that he had been celebrating Constitution Day, was drunk
and needed to urinate. The officer also said that no one knew the author was being held,
that he could shoot the author and that “all they did was to torture and interrogate people”.
2.4
The author spent five days at the General Directorate of the Guardia Civil in Madrid
(from 6 to 11 December) before being brought before the National High Court. During
those five days, the author remained naked and blindfolded. He was continuously
interrogated – in the absence of a lawyer – by officers of the Guardia Civil, who rotated in
groups of four. He was subjected to sleep deprivation, was forced to do thousands of pushups a day and was suffocated multiple times with a plastic bag over his head, which the
officers filled with tobacco smoke. He was also pricked three times at the top of the spine,
causing severe pain down the length of his spine. His body was covered by a blanket before
he was beaten and his head was submerged in icy water. The author was restrained while
officers poured water in his mouth and nose. The officers also drenched his body in icy
water. He was penetrated anally with a stick, and death threats were directed at him and his
relatives.
2.5
During his five days in police custody at the General Directorate, a forensic doctor
visited the author daily.1 The officers dressed the author and removed the blindfold only for
these visits. The author did not tell the doctor about his treatment out of fear of reprisals.
2.6
In addition, over the course of the five days in police custody, the author was forced
to make three statements that had been drawn up beforehand by the Guardia Civil. When
the author forgot any part of the statement, the person taking the statement would prompt
him. The officers told the author that he would receive the assistance of a designated lawyer
but would not be able to speak to him. The author does not know whether the lawyer was
present during the time that he made the three statements to the Guardia Civil.
2.7
On 11 December 2007, on the last day of his detention at the General Directorate, a
person who had not previously been involved in the interrogation sessions repeatedly hit the
author in the face, injuring his mouth. The same person tied the author’s penis and testicles
with a rope and pulled until his penis began to bleed.
1
2
The medical report of 7 December 2007 notes that the author had slight ligature marks and was
anxious but did not want to talk about his treatment or eat. The medical report of 8 December 2007
repeats that the author did not want to discuss his treatment or eat. The medical report dated 10
December (relating to an examination carried out on 9 December) notes that the author had a minor
scratch on the right side of the abdomen. The second report dated 10 December repeats that the author
persisted in refusing to comment on his treatment.
GE.19-13559