E/CN.4/1997/7/Add.3 page 7 of the judicial system mentioned below, or simply because they cannot afford the legal costs involved, both the official kind and those due to widespread corruption. The Special Rapporteur’s impression was that more complaints are being lodged nowadays than a few years ago, thanks to efforts by human rights organizations. Generally speaking, however, and with the exception of a few specific cases, lawyers do not appear to make an essential contribution to bringing and moving the cases of tortured victims before the courts. On the other hand, most torture victims do not have the assistance of a lawyer in the hours or days following their arrest. 15. A study by NGOs on the World Bank and the judicial reform in Venezuela reports the following about the people’s access to lawyers' services: “In view of existing requirements regarding the right procedures and the registration of correctly drafted documents, combined with the prevailing administrative chaos, any legal matter of any importance requires the assistance of a lawyer. The vast majority of the low-income population, however, cannot afford to hire a lawyer, which means that they are in effect denied access to the legal system. (...) Venezuelan law does provide for the possibility of legal aid for persons who cannot afford to hire a lawyer. The legal aid system, however, is fraught with problems.” One of these is that “there are not enough legal aid lawyers to cope with the heavy load of cases processed by the judicial system. For example, in 1993, 157 legal aid lawyers shared a total of 45,702 cases between them (...). The quota of cases per lawyer 6 later rose to 348 in 1995”. 16. Despite the foregoing there are cases in which complaints are lodged. It is even quite common for victims to go to the media, which regularly publish information on incidents of torture, especially when the events in question have affected an entire group. The non-governmental organization Red de Apoyo por la Justicia y la Paz counted a total of 50 complaints of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment in the press in January 1996, 61 in February, 58 in March, 59 in April and 57 in May. Although the Special Rapporteur cannot say whether the information published in the press is accurate, he does believe that repeated complaints of this type are an 7 indication of some truth. 17. The paragraphs below contain examples of cases of torture, most of which allegedly took place in 1995 and 1996, which came to the Special Rapporteur’s attention either through direct testimony from the victims or through information from reliable non-governmental organizations, such as the Sub-Commission on Human Rights and Constitutional Guarantees of the Chamber of Deputies. 18. Fifteen-year-old David Rodríguez, 22-year-old José Tores and 30-year-old Luis Urbano were arrested on 26 March 1995 by the Metropolitan Police in Nueva Tacagua, Caracas. David Rodríguez allegedly had his wrists bound and a bag containing tear-gas placed over his head; he was also beaten with a blunt object and received cigarette burns on his ankles. José Tores was allegedly severely beaten with blunt objects while handcuffed and had his head banged against the wall repeatedly; Luis Urbano had a bag containing tear-gas placed over his head and was beaten.