continued or occurred after 23 Marcii 1976 (the date on
which the Covenant and the Optional Protocol entered
into force for Uruguay), disclose, for the reasons set out
above (para. 15) violations of the International Cov
enant on Civil and Political Rights, with respect to both
Alcides Lanza Perdomo and Beatriz Weismann de
Lanza, in particular of:
Article 7 and article 10 (1), because of the treatment
which they received during their detention;
Article 9 (1), because they were not released, in the case
of Alcides Lanza Perdomo, for five months and, in
the case of Beatriz Weismann de Lanza, for 10
months, after their sentences of imprisonment had
been fully served.
Article 9 (3), because upon their arrest they were
not brought promptly before a judicial officer and
because they were not brought to trial within a
reasonable time;
Article 9 (4), because they were unable effectively to
challenge their arrest and detention;
Article 14 (1), (2) and (3), because they had no effective
access to legal assistance, they were not brought to
trial within a reasonable time, and further because
they were tried in circumstances in which irrespective
of the legislative provisions they could not effectively
enjoy the safeguards of fair trial;
Article 19 of the Covenant provides that everyone shall
have the right to hold opinions without interference and
that the freedom of expression set forth in paragraph 2
of that article shall be subject only to such restrictions as
are necessary (a) for respect of the rights and reputa
tions of others and (b) for the protection of national
security or of public order (ordre public), or of public
health or morals. The Government of Uruguay has sub
mitted no evidence regarding the nature of the political
activities in which Beatriz Weismann and Alcides Lanza
were alleged to have been engaged and which led to their
arrest, detention and trial. Information that they were
charged with subversive association is not in itself suffi
cient. The Committee is therefore unable to conclude on
the information before it that the arrest, detention and
trial of Beatriz Weismann and Alcides Lanza were
justified on any of the grounds mentioned in article
19 (3) of the Covenant.
17. Accordingly, while the Committee notes with
satisfaction that Beatriz Weismann and Alcides Lanza
have now been released, it is nevertheless of the view
that the State party is under an obligation to provide
them with effective remedies, including compensation,
for the violations which they have suffered and to take
steps to ensure that similar violations do not occur in the
future.
TENTH SESSION
Communication No. 4/1977
Submitted by: William Torres Ramirez on 13 February 1977
Alleged victim: The author
State party: Uruguay
Date of adoption of views: 23 July 1980 (tenth session)
Submission to ÏACHR—Same matter—Exhaustion of
domestic remedies—Burden of proof—Access
to
counsel—Habeus
corpus—Torture—Continued
detention despite release order—Extension of time
for submission of State party's observations—Review
of admissibility decision—State's
duty to in
vestigate—Derogation from Covenant
civilian clothes and that he was brought to the
"Batallón de Infantería No. 13", also called "La Má
quina". He describes various forms of torture to which
detainees were allegedly subjected and, in particular, in
his own case the use of submarino (suffocation in
water), plantón (he was forced to remain standing for
four days), hanging (by his arms, which were tied
together, for about 36 hours) and blows (on one occa
sion he was allegedly beaten with such brutality that he
had to be transferred to the military hospital). After be
ing detained for almost one month, he was forced to
sign a written declaration stating that he had not been
mistreated during his detention and he had to answer a
questionnaire about his activities as member of the
Communist Party. On 31 December 1975, he was
transferred to the "Regimiento de Artillería No. 1" in
La Paloma, Cezzo. He states that the conditions of
detention there were, to begin with, a little bit better
than in "La Máquina", but after February 1976 they
worsened. He alleges that detainees were continuously
kept blindfolded, that they were subjected to ill-
Articles of Covenant: 4, 7, 9 (1) and (4), 10 (1) and
14(3)
Articles of Optional Protocol: 4 (2), and 5 (2) (a) and{b)
Views under article 5 (4) of the Optional Protocol
1. The author of this communication (initial letter
dated 13 February 1977 and further letters dated 22
October 1977, 5 April 1978 and 20 May 1978) is a
Uruguayan national, residing in Mexico. He submitted
the communication on his own behalf.
2. The author claims that on 6 December 1975 he
was arrested in his house in Montevideo by four men in
49
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