E/CN.4/2000/9 page 98 Haiti Regular communications and replies received 482. By letter dated 3 September 1999, the Special Rapporteur informed the Government that he had received information on the following cases. 483. Pierre-Yvon Chéry, director of Radio Télédiffusion Cayenne, was reportedly arrested on 2 September 1997 at the Les Cayes radio station by 15 members of the Compagnie d'intervention et de maintien d'ordre (CIMO). They allegedly struck him with the butts of their guns and fists during his arrest and while he was in detention. He was reportedly released the next day without having been charged. The three police officers accused of severe ill-treatment reportedly failed to present themselves before the court on 6 November 1997. It has been impossible to determine whether a police investigation was carried out. 484. In February 1998, members of various specialized police units reportedly intervened in clashes between local police and the population of Mirebalais. On 5 February, the police allegedly arrested two people, including a member of the organization Operayson Mèt Lòd nan Dezòd (OMLD). About fifty people, the majority of them members of the organization, reportedly demonstrated in front of the police station where he was detained. Shots were allegedly fired; a passerby was fatally injured and another seriously wounded and fighting broke out. The demonstrators are said to have burned cars and threatened the local police chief with a machete. Three hours later, members of the CIMO and of the Haitian Police Intervention Group (GIPNH) reportedly arrived together with the Director-General of the National Police, the Secretary of State for Public Security and a team from the Hinche Departmental Unit for the Maintenance of Order (UDMO) for the purpose of restoring order. The security forces allegedly arrested many people, particularly OMLD members, in Mirebalais, Lascahobas and Saut d'Eau, during the night and without warrants. Most of them were beaten at the time of their arrest and during their detention at the Mirebalais police station. At least three people had to be hospitalized as a result of these events. A number of commissions of inquiry, including ones set up by the Criminal Investigation Service at Port-au-Prince and by the Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights, were reportedly sent to the scene of the events. The results of these inquiries are not known to the Special Rapporteur. 485. By letter dated 8 November 1999, the Special Rapporteur reminded the Government of a number of cases he had transmitted in September 1998 regarding which no response had been received. India Regular communications and replies received 486. By letter dated 19 November 1999, the Special Rapporteur advised the Government that he had received information alleging routine torture in detention facilities throughout the country. The police and jailers allegedly torture or ill-treat new prisoners to obtain money and personal articles. Police are reported to torture detainees frequently during custodial detention. Further, the Special Rapporteur has transmitted to the Government numerous allegations that military and paramilitary forces in the north-east have engaged in arbitrary detention, abduction, torture, including rape, and extrajudicial