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The use of leg restraints should be avoided in all but the most extreme situations and they
should never be applied for prolonged periods.
Kinetic impact projectiles
In addition to being used abusively against people exercising their right to peaceful assembly (see
pages 16-17), there are also reports of kinetic impact projectiles being abused in places of detention
in many countries in the region, including Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay110 and Uruguay.111
Illustrative country examples of torture and ill-treatment with kinetic impact projectiles
Brazil: Closed circuit footage of a 2013 incident at the Joinville Regional Prison in Santa
Catarina State received widespread media attention.112 The footage shows officials,
reportedly from the Department of Prison Administration, forcing a group of male detainees
stripped down to their underwear to line up in tightly-packed rows, crouch down with their
hands on their heads and face the wall. Behind the prisoners, a group of approximately 12
armed officials use kinetic impact projectiles and tear gas on the detainees, as well as
spraying what appears to be a chemical irritant directly into their eyes. This behaviour is a
clear violation of the UN CAT and the Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish
Torture.
Screen shot
of
closed
circuit video
footage113
110
Mecanismo Nacional de Prevención de Paraguay, Informe de visita Nº 34/2014: Centro Educativo de
Itauguá; IACHR, ‘IACHR Deplores Violent Deaths at Educational Facility for Adolescents in Paraguay,’ 6 May
2014, <http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/media_center/PReleases/2014/050.asp> [accessed 31 May 2016].
111
UN Special Rapportuer on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Follow
up to the recommendations made by the Special Rapporteur to previous country visits, 28 February 2013, UN
doc. A/ HRC/22/53/Add.3, para. 24.
112
Roelton Maciel, ‘Vídeo: tortura é registrada por câmeras de segurança no presídio de Joinville,’ Anotícia,
02/02/2013, <http://anoticia.clicrbs.com.br/sc/seguranca/noticia/2013/02/video-tortura-e-registrada-porcameras-de-seguranca-no-presidio-de-joinville-4032160.html> [accessed 31 May 2016].
113
Video available at Ibid.
28
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