11.2 With respect to their ahegation that the
sentence against their father was pohtically motivated,
they indicate that the State party still has not specifically
stated which acts the detainee committed in order to
warrant his present situation.
11.3 The authors also declare that they never re
ceived any information about their father's state of
health through the Embassy of Uruguay in Mexico.
12.1 The Human Rights Committee has considered
the present communication in the light of ah informa
tion made available to it by the parties, as provided in
article 5 (1) of the Optional Protocol. The Committee
bases its views on the fohowing facts:
12.2 Alberto Altesor was arrested in Montevideo
on 21 October 1975 and placed in custody under the
"prompt security measures". Recourse to habeas cor
pus was not available to him. On 24 September 1976 a
military judge ordered him to be placed on trial,
charged with the offence referred to in article 60 (V) of
the Military Criminal Code concerning "subversive
association". The court of first instance sentenced him
to eight years' imprisonment (the Committee is not in
formed of the date of this decision). The court of second
instance confirmed the judgement of the court of first
instance on 18 March 1980.
13.1 In formulating its views the Human Rights
Committee also takes into account the following con
siderations, which reflect a faUure by both parties to
furnish the information and clarifications necessary for
the Committee to formulate final views on a number of
important issues:
13.2 In operative paragraph 2 of its decision on admissibhity of 29 October 1980, the Committee requested
the authors to clarify which of the events previously
described by them were aheged to have occurred on or
after 23 March 1976 (the date on which the Covenant
entered into force for Uruguay) and to provide detailed
information as to their present knowledge about their
father's treatment after this date. The Committee notes
that the authors' reply on 28 January 1981 and their
submission of 6 October 1981 do not furnish the Com
mittee with any further precise information to enable it
to establish with certainty what in fact occurred after
23 March 1976. The authors claim that, based on infor
mation provided by eye-witnesses arrested at the same
time as Alberto Altesor and subsequently released, their
father was subjected to torture fohowing his arrest. No
eye-witness testimonies have been furnished, nor a clear
indication of the time-frame involved. The authors have
however explained that the "mistreatment which he suf
fered earlier, to the point of having to be hospitalized, is
not inflicted on him at present".
13.3 With respect to the date when Alberto Altesor
was first brought before a judge, the authors claim that
he was kept incommunicado and not brought before a
judge for over 16 months after his arrest. The State
party's explanations in its note of 14 April 1978 are
ambiguous in this respect: "Fue detenido... el 21/10/75
e internado ai amparo de las medidas prontas de
seguridad. Con posterioridad fue sometido al juez
militar de instrucción de 1er. turno quien con fecha 24
de Septiembre de 1976 dispuso su procesamiento
The Committee cannot determine whether "con
posterioridad" (subsequently) means that Alberto
Altesor was brought before a judge within a reasonable
time; nor is it clear whether "fue sometido al juez
müitar" means that he was brought personally before
the judge or whether his case was merely submitted to
the judge in writing or in the presence of a legal
representative. The State party should have clearly
stated the precise date when Alberto Altesor was
brought personally before a judge, since article 9 (3) of
the Covenant requires that "Anyone arrested or de
tained on a criminal charge shah be brought promptly
before a judge." Without that statement, the State
party has failed to rebut the authors' allegation that
their father was not brought before a judge until after
16 months of detention. The fact that Alberto Altesor
was committed for trial by a military judge on 24
September 1976 (i.e. over 11 months after his arrest),
does not adequately clarify the matter.
13.4 The authors claim that their father was ar
rested because of his political activities. In reply, the
State party stated that Alberto Ahesor headed a section
of the proscribed Communist Party believed to be
engaged in the infiltration of the armed forces, and that
he was arrested owing to his connection with the
clandestine and subversive activity of the said unlawful
organization. The State party has not furnished any
court decision or other information as to the specific
nature of the activities in which Alberto Altesor was
aheged to have been engaged and which led to his deten
tion.
13.5 In operative paragraph 5 of its decision of 29
October 1980 the Committee requested the State party
to furnish specific and detailed responses to each and
every ahegation made by the authors. The Committee
observes that the State party's submission under article
4 (2) of the Optional Protocol, dated 21 August 1981,
does not constitute sufficient refutation with regard to
various of the allegations made by the authors. The
State party's general statements that "the trial was held
with ah due guarantees" and that Alberto Altesor had
"counsel as required by law" are insufficient to rebut
the allegations that the accused was not prompUy in
formed of the charges against him, that he was not
allowed to defend himself in person, that there was no
public hearing, and that defence witnesses were not ex
amined under the same conditions as witnesses against
him. The State party has not responded to the Commit
tee's request that it should be furnished with copies of
any court orders or decisions relevant to the matter. The
Committee is seriously concerned by this omission.
Although similar requests have been made in a number
of other cases, the Committee has never yet been fur
nished with the texts of any court decisions. In such cir
cumstances, the Committee feels unable, on the basis of
the information before it, to accept the State party's
contention that Alberto Altesor had a fair trial.
108
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