E/CN.4/1991/17 page 65 examinations made in May 1989 indicated that the symptoms and injuries described by the victims were consistent with the methods of torture to which they were reportedly subjected. Some of the victims confirmed that a doctor was present and allegedly helped in the interrogations during which they were tortured. Information has been provided on the following specific cases: (a) Yanco Rafael Verastegui Gomez, aged 21, bank employee, arrested on 4 March 1989, taken to the DIM barracks and, for 36 hours, allegedly brutally beaten on all parts of his body, given electric shocks, suffocated with a plastic bag until he nearly fainted and subjected to a mock execution; (b) Yves Roland Denis Boulton, aged 31, student activist, arrested on 4 March 1989, taken to the DISIP barracks and later to the DIM barracks and, for 36 hours, reportedly beaten on all parts of his body, including the head and testicles, forced to climb up and down stairs on his knees, with his hands tied behind his head, made to shower with ice-cold water for 5 to 10 minutes and subjected to electric shocks and death threats. The torture ended when he signed a document they would not let him read; (c) Omar Pinto, aged 32, arrested on 4 March 1989 and taken to the DIM barracks, where he was allegedly tortured for 24 hours, including blows and kicks to all parts of the body, having his head submerged in water, having his head covered up with a plastic bag while he was being beaten and threatened with electric shocks and that his daughter would be tortured if he did not co-operate; (d) *4>lejandro Fidel Seguar Briceno, aged 19, arrested on 2 March 1989 by members of the military police and taken to the Fuente Tiuna Barracks, where he was subjected for 24 hours to torture, such as being hung between two walls like a hammock, with his hands and feet tied, being beaten all over his body at the same time and repeatedly being hit on the head and other parts of the body with a wooden stick; while they were interrogating him, he was forced to lie on the floor and his hands were stepped on; (e) In addition, Max Verastegui Gomez, Jose Gregorio Ramos and five other persons arrested by DIM also stated that they had been tortured. Most of them were reportedly kept incommunicado in cells without light during part of their detention. 199. On 7 December 1990, the Government of Venezuela gave the Special Rapporteur a communication sent by the Office of the Attorney-General of the Republic stating that the above-mentioned cases were brought before a court of first instance. "The referral took place on 27 July 1990. The forensic medicine reports described the following results: according to the official document sent by the Ministry of Justice, Judicial Police Technical Unit No. ..., citizen Yango Rafael Verastegui Gomez was examined at San Carlos barracks on 20 March 1990 and it was found that there were no external injuries to be described from the forensic medicine point of view. His general condition is satisfactory. Official document No. ... from the same body states that citizen Pinto Valera Omar had many scars on the abdomen, both wrists and the left forearm. These injuries are self-inflicted. The rest of the physical examination is within the normal limits, but it recommends a forensic psychiatric examination on account of a suicide attempt. In addition, the expert report on citizen Denis Boulton Roland, as contained in