A/HRC/13/39/Add.4 allegations that detainees who had violated the prison rules were handcuffed to a pillar/column at the portal and flogged by soldiers or prison guards on their buttocks, but sometimes also all over their body. All the other prisoners could watch the scene. Furthermore, the Special Rapporteur was informed of discriminative practices against foreigners. Reportedly, not long before the visit, when a foreigner escaped from the prison, all other foreign detainees were beaten up to (collectively) punish them. Male detainee, minor, had spent four weeks in Bata Prison. During the arrest he was punched in his face and on his testicles. As a result of the beatings in his face and head he still could not hear well. He was detained for two weeks at a police post and then transferred to Bata Central Police Station with instructions to torture him. Soon after his arrival, he was taken to the underground investigation room, where his hands and feet were tied together (handcuffs and leg-irons) and he was suspended from a bar fixed to a special structure. He was beaten on his feet while hanging for two hours. Then he was taken back to the upper cells. He needed to be supported as he could not walk because his feet were bleeding. After two weeks at the police which he spent mostly on his own, he was transferred to Bata Prison. At none of the police stations he received any food and just very little water; he could not wash himself or go to the toilet and had to defecate and urinate in plastic bags and bottles. Female detainee was arrested in 2007. She was held for two weeks at a gendarmerie post in Bata in a cell together with other male and female detainees. She was not beaten. The Gendarmerie did not provide them with food or water, but her family regularly brought what she needed. She was then transferred to Bata Prison. She has some money to buy food and water. Female detainee was arrested in spring 2008 and was held for two weeks at Bata Central Police Station, before being transferred to Bata Prison. At the police station she received water, but no food. She reportedly was very sick at that time and asked for medical treatment, but did not see a doctor and was neither brought to a hospital. She reported that her situation in the prison was better since her family would bring her food every day. Female detainee was arrested in spring 2006 and taken to Bata Central Police Station, where she was detained for one week in a cell together with men. Since in the prison, she had no support from outside, since her house had been put on fire by the family of the victim and her children consequently were taken care of by a church. She received food from her cell mates. Male detainee had been in detention in Bata prison for about six weeks. Prior to this, he was held in police custody for two weeks at Bata Central Police Station. He reportedly was blindfolded and brought to the interrogation room in the basement, where he was stripped naked with only his underpants left, and handcuffed behind his back. In this situation he was – for two hours - kicked with boots and beaten with police truncheons by two police officers all over his body and in his face in order to extract a confession. As a result of the torture his whole face was swollen and his eyes were bloodshot so that he was not able to see any more. Immediately after the “interrogation” he was brought into a single cell without light where he was held during two days without receiving any food or water. Thereafter he was held in a cell together with other detainees (out of which many reportedly had also been subjected to torture by the police). Since he had no visitors, his cell-mates looked after him and, with the help of their relatives, provided him with medicine to treat his wounds resulting from the torture. When he was transferred to Bata Prison two weeks later, none of the prison staff made a remark concerning his wounds although the injuries in his face were still very well visible. He further reported that the food provided by the prison authorities was insufficient, but he had no visitors bringing him food from outside the prison. 34

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