CAT/C/55/D/553/2013 2.8 X was ordered to sit next to the other soldier. He was interrogated and asked to admit that he had attended a meeting held at the soldier ’s home to plan a coup d’état under the latter’s lead. The complainant denied the accusation. Colonel D.N. then explained to him that if he admitted his involvement he would be released. When the complainant continued to deny the accusation, his interrogators threatened to do things to him that would make him confess. Seeing the bloodied body of the other soldier, who had clearly suffered severe torture, he had no choice but to confess. He therefore signed a statement to the effect that he had been involved in planning the alleged coup d’état. 2.9 The complainant was then taken back to the meeting room, where five of the other soldiers arrested on the beach were still waiting. He spent the night in that room, sitting on the bare floor. The following day, he was transferred to a kind of storage room measuring 7 m by 6 m, without ventilation or windows, where 18 people were being held. 2.10 No visits were allowed, despite repeated requests by a representative of the Association pour la Protection des Droits Humains et des Personnes Détenues (Association for the Protection of Human Rights and Detained Persons, APRODH). On 30 January 2010, X was interrogated once again by the police. He retracted the statements he had made the day before under duress and denied any involvement. 2.11 On 1 and 2 February 2010, representatives of various associations, including APRODH, Human Rights Watch and the Ligue Burundaise des Droits de l’Homme (Iteka), were able to meet with the complainant and the other soldiers who had been arrested under the same circumstances and to note their injuries. The findings of those associations were published in the media. 2 On the morning of 2 February 2010, three delegates from the International Committee of the Red Cross visited the detained soldiers, including the complainant. 2.12 Over the course of the following days, the complainant continued to undergo interrogations, and the charges against him were changed. He was charged first with mutiny, then with threatening the safety of the military command personnel, and finally with involvement in a military conspiracy. 2.13 On 3 February 2010, X was transferred to the Muha military camp in Bujumbura. He was placed with another detainee in a 2 m² cell without windows and had to sleep on the cold floor. He was given rotten food, which he refused. The guards were ordered not to allow the detainees to leave the cell for any reason. 2.14 On 5 February 2010, X was brought back to the First Military Region headquarters before being transferred to Bubanza prison. That same day, the military prosecutor issued a warrant for his arrest on charges of involvement in a military conspiracy. 3 Only then were his handcuffs removed, after he had been kept in that painful position, with his hands behind his back, at all times for seven days, except during interrogation sessions. 2.15 The complainant was subjected to appalling detention conditions in Bubanza prison. He slept on the floor in a 30 m² common area, in which about 80 prisoners were crammed together. His daily food ration was 350 grams of cassava flour and beans. 2.16 On 11 February 2010, the complainant was interrogated in the Bubanza prison legal services office by Lieutenant Colonel J.C.N., together with Lieutenant C.G., who repeatedly called him a murderer throughout the interrogation. At one point d uring the interrogation, annoyed that the complainant continued to deny any involvement in a __________________ 2 3 4/16 The complainant has attached a press release published on the Internet. Attached to the complaint. GE.15-16736