E/CN.4/1994/31 page 90 cases. In addition, the Special Rapporteur made two urgent appeals on behalf of persons who, according to information received, were at risk of being tortured. (a) Information transmitted to the Government with regard to the practice of torture in general 427. By letter dated 26 August 1993 the Special Rapporteur advised the Government that he had received ample information on the practice of torture in the country by security forces. In particular, it was reported that the new decrees on terrorism promulgated since April 1992 contained a series of rules which facilitated the practice of torture on persons detained on suspicion of terrorism, a term which was extremely vaguely defined. As a result of some of these rules: (i) (ii) (iii) The right of defence was limited by the fact that the lawyer was not allowed to intervene during the period of detention by the police before the detainee had submitted his declaration to the prosecutor. Preventive detention could last 15 days for accusations of terrorism and even more for charges of betraying the country. The police was given broad discretionary powers during preventive detention, such as the right to keep the detainee incommunicado. For charges of betraying the country, the police might set the time-limit for preventive detention beyond the legal limit of 15 days, and might even decide to extend it. These powers were not subject to control by the jurisdictional authorities. The exercise of the remedy of habeas corpus was prohibited both during the police investigation and during the judicial investigation. 428. Reports also spoke of a link between the practice of torture on the one hand and involuntary disappearances and summary or arbitrary executions on the other hand. Those who reappeared after long periods of unacknowledged detention and the bodies of victims of extrajudicial executions very frequently showed marks of physical violence. Such cases apparently occurred in various parts of the country, but they were most common in rural and urban areas where a state of emergency had been declared and where the military presence was therefore strong. Thus, for example, the Special Rapporteur had received a list of 24 students from the National University of Central Peru who were allegedly executed in the city of Huancayo between August and October 1992 and whose bodies showed marks of physical violence. 429. According to the information received, the most commonly used methods of torture were beatings, suffocation, electric shocks, suspension by the arms for long periods of time, death threats and mutilation. Sexual abuse and rape were also reported to be routine in the areas under a state of emergency. 430. In almost all cases received by the Special Rapporteur, responsibility for torture was attributed to members of the armed forces and police forces stationed in the areas under a state of emergency. However, members of the