CAT/C/51/D/376/2009
The victim told his family only that DRS agents had reproached him, without elaborating
any further, for not attending prayers at a mosque closer to his home and for having a beard
and wearing Islamic dress.
2.2
On 23 December 2006, upon leaving the same mosque, Mounir Hammouche was
arrested a second time, along with six other persons,1 by the same DRS officials driving the
same vehicle. According to later accounts provided by the persons arrested with Mounir
Hammouche, everyone, including Mr. Hammouche, was taken to the DRS military
barracks, the Territorial Centre for Research and Investigation in Constantine, where they
were tortured during the period between 23 December 2006 and 3 January 2007.
2.3
On 29 December 2006, individuals dressed in civilian clothing and accompanied by
police officers visited the home of Mounir Hammouche to inform his family that he had
died while in police custody. These persons, probably DRS agents, did not reveal their
identity or rank, but merely indicated that they were from the security services (Al-Amn).
Several hours later, the body of Mounir Hammouche was returned to his family, who were
able to detect numerous signs of torture all over his body, in particular a head injury and
bruises on his hands and feet. In response to a question by one of Mounir Hammouche’s
brothers about the circumstances of his brother’s death, one of the agents, who appeared to
be in charge, said that Mounir Hammouche “had probably committed suicide”, that “in any
case, an autopsy had been carried out” and that “they [the family] could bury him”. The
DRS agents and police officers stayed close to the family’s home until Mounir
Hammouche’s burial on 30 December 2006. They appeared to be monitoring the family’s
reaction, as well as the comings and goings of neighbours and persons close to the family.
Numerous DRS agents and police officers also kept watch over the funeral proceedings.
2.4
Convinced that Mounir Hammouche had not committed suicide but had died as a
result of torture during his detention in DRS facilities, his family took numerous steps to
shed light on the circumstances of his death. They first sought to discover what had
happened to the other persons taken into custody on the same day as Mounir Hammouche
with a view to obtaining their account of the events. On 3 January 2007, the individuals in
question had been taken to the Court of Ras El Oued and brought before the public
prosecutor. All had been charged with “advocacy of terrorism” and placed in pretrial
detention in Bordj Bou-Arréridj prison. A number of these individuals told the complainant
that Mounir Hammouche, like his fellow prisoners, had been brutally tortured by DRS
agents in the Territorial Centre for Research and Investigation in Constantine, where they
had all been taken following their arrest. These accounts of torture were confirmed by one
of the defendants’ lawyers, who noted that, on 3 January 2007, the day of the court hearing
before the investigating judge, his clients still bore visible signs of torture.
2.5
With the intention of lodging a complaint, Yazid Hammouche, the victim’s brother,
went to the Court of Ras El Oued, which had territorial jurisdiction in the matter, in order to
request that the public prosecutor provide him with a copy of the report of the autopsy
which, according to the Intelligence and Security Department, had been performed on
Mounir Hammouche’s corpse. However, the prosecutor refused this request and referred
Yazid Hammouche to the chief prosecutor of Constantine. Yazid Hammouche was then
received by the chief prosecutor of Constantine, who confirmed that Mounir Hammouche
was believed to have committed suicide and that an autopsy had been carried out and a
report prepared. The chief prosecutor of Constantine subsequently produced an unsigned
and undated document, which he said was the autopsy report. He refused, however, to let
Yazid Hammouche have a copy and denied the latter’s request to consult the document at
greater length. Yazid Hammouche informed him of his family’s wish to lodge a complaint,
1
GE.13-49959
The complainant names these persons.
3