E/CN.4/2001/66 page 168 853. Juvenal Reis Louro Ova was allegedly ill-treated in January 2000 by two of several PSP officers at O Poeta café in Tavira. He was allegedly punched. He was taken to the Hospital de Faro where he was treated for his injuries, which reportedly included damage to the lens of the right eye. He was allegedly later warned against making a complaint by the officer who had first assaulted him. However, he reportedly lodged a judicial complaint with the prosecutor of Tavira. 854. The Government responded that Juvenal Reis Louro Ova had lodged a complaint stating that he had been hit on the head with a helmet by a PSP officer and punched by another. Criminal procedures were instituted by the Court of Tavira and disciplinary procedures against the officers were also initiated by the Police Command of Faro. The criminal procedure was dismissed by an order of the Public Prosecutor dated 14 July 2000, for lack of evidence. The police officers claim that they expelled the plaintiff from the bar at the request of the bar owner, as he was causing trouble. The complaint had not been confirmed by witnesses and the medical examination only reported the complaint without confirming the injuries. 855. Mário João Augusto Rocha, a black man, is said to have been assaulted in February 2000 by PSP officers who intercepted him while he was walking to his girlfriend’s home at Arroja in Odivelas. He was allegedly beaten both before and after being taken to the police station at Odivelas, where he was also racially abused and punched in the bladder, before any demand was made to see his identity papers. After leaving the police station he reportedly went to the Hospital de Santa Maria. He is said to have lodged a complaint with the PSP of Santo António dos Cavaleiros (Loures). A judicial inquiry was reportedly opened and an internal police inquiry was also under way to determine whether disciplinary proceedings should be instituted. 856. The Government responded that a criminal procedure had been instituted by the Public Prosecutor’s office at the Court of Loures, which was still ongoing, and that a disciplinary procedure was being carried out by the National Direction of the PSP, which had, however, been placed on hold to await the outcome of the criminal procedure. Observations 857. The Special Rapporteur considers it appropriate to draw the attention of the Commission to the concern of the Committee against Torture on its May 2000 review of the third periodic report of Portugal under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in respect of “continuing reports of a number of deaths arising out of contact by members of the public with the police … [and of] inter-prisoner violence in the prisons” (A/55/44, paras. 101-102), as well as the Committee’s recommendations, especially, that the State party “should particularly ensure that criminal investigation and prosecution of public officers are undertaken as a matter of course where the evidence reveals that they have committed torture, or cruel or inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment” (ibid., para. 104; emphasis in original).