the African Charter. Furthermore, the Commission is of the view that the executions that followed the said trial constitute a violation of Article 4. Denying people food and medical attention, burning them in sand and subjecting them to torture to the point of death point to a shocking lack of respect for life, and constitutes a violation of Article 4 (see para. 12). Other communications provide evidence of various arbitrary executions that took place in the villages of the River Senegal valley (see para. 18 and 19) and stress that people were arbitrarily detained between September and December 1990 (see para. 22). The Commission considers that there were repeated violations of Article 4. 121. Article 16 of the Charter states that: “1.Every individual shall have the right to enjoy the best attainable state of physical and mental health. 2. State Parties to the present Charter shall take the necessary measures to protect the health of their people and to ensure that they receive medical attention when they are sick.” 122. The State’s responsibility in the event of detention is even more evident to the extent that detention centres are its exclusive preserve, hence the physical integrity and welfare of detainees is the responsibility of the competent public authorities. Some prisoners died as a result of the lack of medical attention. The general state of health of the prisoners deteriorated due to the lack of sufficient fool; they had neither blankets nor adequate hygiene. The Mauritanian state is directly responsible for this state of affairs and the government has not denied these facts. Consequently, the Commission considers that there was a violation of Article 16. 123. Article 18(1) states that: “The family shall be the natural unit and basis of society. It shall be protected by the State…” 124. Holding people in solitary confinement both before and during the trial, and during such detention, which is, on top of it all, arbitrary, (para. 5, 8, 10, 11 and 12) and depriving them of their right to a family life constitutes a violation of Article 18(1). 125. Article 12(1) states that: “Every individual shall have the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of a State provided he abides by the law.” 126. Evicting Black Mauritanians from their houses and depriving them of their Mauritanian citizenship constitutes a violation of Article 12(1). The representative of the Mauritanian government described the efforts made to ensure the security of all those who returned to Mauritania after having been expelled. He claimed that all those who so desired could cross the border, or present themselves to the Mauritanian Embassy in Dakar and obtain authorisation to return to their village of birth. He affirmed that his government had established a department responsible for their resettlement. The Commission adopts the view that while these efforts are laudable, they do not annul the violation committed by the State. 127. Article 14 of the Charter reads as follows: “The right to property shall be guaranteed. It may only be encroached upon in the interest of public need or in the general interest of the community and in accordance with the provisions of appropriate laws.” 128. The confiscation and looting of the property of Black Mauritanians and the expropriation or destruction of their land and houses before forcing them to go abroad constitute a violation of the right to property as guaranteed in Article 14. 129. Article 2 of the Charter states that: “Every individual shall be entitled to the enjoyment of the rights and freedoms recognised and guaranteed in the present Charter without distinction of any kind such as race, ethnic group, colour…” 130. The representative of the government as well as the authors of the communications declared that many Black Mauritanians were forced to flee or were detained, tortured or killed because of the colour of their skin, and that the situation in Mauritania became explosive due to the extreme positions adopted by the francophone and arabophone factions that were in opposition to each other in the country. 131. Article 2 of the Charter lays down a principle that is essential to the spirit of this convention, one of whose goals is the elimination of all forms of discrimination and to ensure equality among all human beings. The same objective under-pins theDeclaration of the Rights of People Belonging to National, Ethnic, Religious or Linguistic Minorities adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in