E/CN.4/1994/31 page 49 Equatorial Guinea Information transmitted to the Government 227. By letter dated 26 August 1993 the Special Rapporteur advised the Government that he had received information according to which torture is habitually used in Equatorial Guinea as a means of extracting confessions from detainees or as a form of punishment. Although it is used principally against political detainees, it is reportedly also used against persons suspected of ordinary offences. Methods of torture include beatings, applied particularly to the soles of the feet, electric shocks applied to the genital organs and hanging of the detainees by their feet or arms. Torture is common, above all during police detention, but it was reported also that prisoners already sentenced have sometimes been removed from prison by security forces and tortured. 228. Conditions in the penitentiary centres are reported to be deplorable, particularly for women. Neither the "Black Beach" prison in Malabo nor Bata prison provides any real separation between men and women, and cases of sexual abuse and rape of women by male prisoners and/or guards are allegedly common. Medical care is systematically refused. 229. The following individual cases were transmitted to the Government: (a) Andrés Angue Abeso a former member of the town council of Sen-Esason, was arrested in April 1992 on accusation of having used magic against the authorities. He was said to have been severely beaten, and tied to a post and left in the sun for five hours. (b) Demetrio Alfara, Tomás Buechecu, Julio Esono, Enrique Ndong, Pablo Ndong, Gaspar Ondo and Guadalupe Ngue were part of a group of 29 persons who were detained on 1 September 1992 when the police raided the offices of the Progress Party of Equatorial Guinea (PPGE) at Malabo. The detainees were taken to the National Police headquarters, and the persons listed above were transferred to Playa Negra prison. All of them were reportedly beaten on the soles of their feet. (c) Esteban Juan Mbomio Nchama a prisoner serving a four-year sentence at Black Beach prison, was taken to a police station on 8 June 1991 for interrogation in connection with some prisoners accused of murder. His hands and feet were reportedly tied up, and he was beaten and suspended by the wrists for six hours until one of his arms broke. He was then taken back to the prison where he was kept in a punishment cell for seven months. No medical care was provided. (d) Dámaso Abaga Nve died on 31 March 1993 allegedly as a result of torture inflicted on the premises of Ebebiyin police station. A doctor from the district hospital reportedly examined the body and confirmed a fracture of the left hand, three bruises to the head, two frontal bruises and interdigital cuts on the left hand.