Tools of Torture and Repression in South America Electric shocks are sometimes administered by rigging the mains electrical supply. Such behaviour is extremely dangerous due to the lack of control over the strength of the electric shock being applied and those responsible should be held criminally accountable. Although the type of device used is not always mentioned in reports, the application of electric shocks to individuals deprived of their liberty has been reported in Argentina,126 Bolivia, Brazil,127 Colombia, Ecuador, Peru,128 Uruguay129 and Venezuela. Illustrative country examples of torture and ill-treatment with electroshock weapons Ecuador: Police allegedly responded to largely peaceful protests on 17 and 18 September 2014 with excessive force and arbitrary detentions. According to Human Rights Watch, several of those detained were subjected to electric shocks during arrest and while in custody.130 Colombia: National Police Resolution No. 02686, which was passed in July 2012 to regulate the use of less lethal weapons, provides a list of equipment which can be used by police.131 This list includes projectile electric shock devices, stun batons, ‘electric control equipment’ and ‘electroshock equipment’. It has been alleged that ESMAD has used electric shock equipment to torture those detained during peaceful protests.132 In one reported case in Buenaventura, a minor was arbitrarily detained by police and tortured until the weapon’s battery died.133 It has also been alleged that projectile electric shock devices have been used arbitrarily in prisons.134 Venezuela: Some of those detained during widespread protests that began in February 2014 were reportedly subjected to electric shocks.135 However, this practise has reportedly been in use in Venezuela for many years. The Support Network for Justice and Peace – Red de Apoyo para la Justicia y la Paz – reports that 11% of the victims of torture and ill-treatment it assisted between 2003 and 2011 had been subjected to electric shocks.136 On 19 March 2014, a group of at least 23 people were detained during a joint National Guard and army 126 Comisión Provincial por la Memoria, Informe Anual 2015: El sistema de la crueldad IX, p. 132. Human Rights Watch, World Report 2014, p. 218. 128 IACHR, Special Report on the Human Rights Situation at the Challapalca Prison, Department of Tacna, Republic of Peru, 2002, <https://www.cidh.oas.org/countryrep/Challapalca.eng/report.htm> [accessed 31 May 2016], para. 80. 129 UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, ‘Followup to the recommendations made by the Special Rapporteur to previous country visits,’ 28 February 2013, UN Doc. A/ HRC/22/53/Add.3, para. 23. 130 Human Rights Watch, Ecuador: Police Rampage at Protests, 20 October 2014, <https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/10/20/ecuador-police-rampage-protests> [accessed 31 May 2016]. 131 Policía Nacional, Resolución No. 02686, 31 July 2012. 132 US Department of State, Colombia 2013 Human Rights Report, pp. 8-9. 133 Comisión Intereclesial de Justicia y Paz, ‘Torturas policiales, amenazas de muerte y plan de masacre contra integrantes del Espacio Humanitario Puente Nayero, barrio La Playita, Buenaventura, y acompañantes de derechos humanos,’ 7 June 2014, <http://justiciaypazcolombia.com/Torturas-policiales-amenazas-de> [accessed 31 May 2016]. 134 World Organisation Against Torture, ‘Colombia: Concluyó la misión de la OMCT, a nueve meses del examen de Colombia ante el Comité contra la Tortura,’ 3 September 2015, <http://www.omct.org/es/statements/colombia/2014/09/d22808/> [accessed 31 May 2016]. 135 Human Rights Watch, World Report 2015, p. 606. 136 Red de Apoyo para la Justicia y la Paz, Informe sobre la práctica de la tortura en Venezuela, September 2012, p. 32. 127 31