A/HRC/34/54/Add.1 persons deprived of their liberty, including those charged with crimes against the State or terrorism. 2. Excessive use of force 28. The Special Rapporteur heard reliable testimonies, from civil society and victims, of demonstrators being dispersed through the use of excessive force and violent means, including beatings with clubs, by law enforcement officers. Forensic examinations of victims’ wounds corroborated the use of such instruments. 29. The Government explained that most demonstrations were not authorized and that the demonstrators had, therefore, been dispersed legitimately. The Special Rapporteur reiterates that excessive use of force is prohibited under international law and that law enforcement officers must use non-violent means. The methods habitually applied do not conform to international principles of crowd control, and peaceful protesters are frequently wounded. Depending on the severity of the wounds, this practice amounts to ill-treatment, whether the demonstration is lawful or not. 30. The Special Rapporteur was assured by representatives of the Ministry of the Interior and Decentralization that not a single complaint regarding excessive use of force against demonstrators had been lodged in the five to six months prior to the visit. He was similarly informed by local authorities in Rosso, a southern border-crossing town where numerous demonstrations had allegedly been dispersed through the excessive use of force, that absolutely no complaints had been made against law enforcement officers. Such disturbing statistics point to a faulty complaints mechanism rather than to an actual lack of reasons to complain. 31. The Government has a duty to investigate instances and allegations of excessive use of force by law enforcement personnel and cases of wounded demonstrators, even in the absence of a formal complaint. 6 The Special Rapporteur calls upon the Government to provide adequate training to law enforcement personnel, specifically on crowd control. 3. Death penalty 32. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the de facto moratorium on the death penalty, in effect since 1987, but regrets that Mauritania has not abolished and continues to impose death sentences. 33. The Special Rapporteur expresses concern about the types of crimes for which the death penalty can be imposed under Mauritanian law, and its mandatory nature for some offences. According to international principles, the death penalty may be imposed only for the most serious crimes, namely intentional crimes of violence resulting in death. Mandatory death sentences for such crimes as, for example (as is the case in Mauritania), murder and aggravated murder, adultery, apostasy and homosexual acts, are against international law. 34. The recent imposition of the death penalty under article 306 of the Penal Code, for the first time since independence, is particularly disturbing. Mohamed Cheikh Ould M’Khaitir, a blogger, was convicted for zendagha (hypocrisy) and sentenced to death in 2014. Despite his repentance, an option under sharia law, no pardon or commutation was granted. On 21 April 2016, the Court of Appeals dropped the more serious charge of hypocrisy but confirmed the death sentence for apostasy, thereby offering an opportunity for the Supreme Court to review the validity of the repentance. While the Special 6 See the report on the fact-finding mission undertaken by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Mauritania on 15 and 16 November 2014, para. 113. 7