Article 1. Definition of Torture 57 perpetrator and has lost the capacity to resist or escape the infliction of pain or suffering’.194 This will usually be the case in a situation of detention as well as arrest, eg when the victim is handcuffed or lying on the street without resisting his or her arrest or any other similar situation, in which the victim is under the direct control of another person.195 116  The Committee has not only emphasized that the States parties’ obligations to prohibit, prevent, and redress torture extend ‘to all contexts of custody and control’,196 but pointed out that States are under a special obligation to take effective measures to prevent torture and ensure that persons deprived of their liberty can exercise the rights enshrined in the Convention, since they bear a special responsibility owing to the extent of the control that prison authorities exercise over such persons. States parties must therefore take the necessary steps to prevent individuals from inflicting acts of torture on persons under their control.197 It has thereby explicitly underlined that a person deprived of liberty is especially vulnerable due to the extent of control that this person is subjected to. 117  The Committee has found torture also outside a detention context, while confirming the element of powerlessness. In VL v Switzerland, the Committee held that ‘the complainant was clearly under the physical control of the police even though the acts concerned were perpetrated outside formal detention facilities’.198 After having found that severe pain and suffering was inflicted on the victim, for purposes such as interrogation, intimidation, and punishment, as well as humiliation and discrimination based on gender, the Committee concluded that the sexual abuse by the police amounted to torture, even though it was carried ‘outside formal detention facilities’.199 The Committee thereby acknowledged that rape by public officials constitutes torture, even if it does not happen in a context of detention. What is relevant, therefore, is the powerlessness of the victim.200 118  In the case X v Burundi, the Committee stipulated regarding the circumstances of the case, that the complainant was arrested by State officials, who beat and kicked him in the chest, ribs, back, and head while pointing a weapon at his head.201 The complainant was tied up ‘with his hands behind his back, having been completely overpowered by the State officials’202 when this treatment was inflicted. While the State party argued that injuries happened to the complainant because he resisted to the law enforcement officials, the Committee concluded that ‘the injuries occurred while the claimant was under the 194   A/​72/​178 (n 99)  para 31. Also see Manfred UNSRT reports; Nowak, ‘Powerlessness as a Defining Characteristic’ (n 160). 195   See eg Bartesaghi Gallo and Others v Italy App nos 12131/​13 and 43390/​13 (ECtHR, 22 June 2017). 196   CAT/​C/​GC/​2 (n 88) para  15. 197   Hernández Colmenarez and Guerrero Sánchez v Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, No 456/​2011 (n 152) para 6.4. See also CAT/​C/​GC/​2 (n 88) para 25. 198   VL v Switzerland, No 262/​2005, UN Doc CAT/​C/​37/​D/​262/​2005, 20 November 2006, Annex para 8.10. 199   ibid A/​72/​178 (n 99) para 38, referring to A/​50/​44, para 126; CAT, ‘Concluding Observations: Venezuela’ (2014) UN Doc CAT/​C/​VEN/​CO/​3-​4, para 12; CAT, ‘Concluding Observations: Turkey’ (2016) UN Doc CAT/​C/​TUR/​CO/​4, para 15; CAT, ‘Concluding Observations: Republic of Korea’ (2017) UN Doc CAT/​C/​ KOR/​CO/​3-​5, para  13. 200   VL v Switzerland, No 262/​2005 (n 198) para 8.10. See also below 3.1.5. 201   X v Burundi, No 553/​2013, UN Doc CAT/​C/​55/​D/​553/​2013, 10 August 2015, para 7.2. 202  ibid. Zach