E/CN.4/1991/17 page 40 charges, often leading to police brutality or torture, have increased. According to detainees' testimonies, victims of such practices included Nepalese Christians and members of other religious minorities such as Protestant and Muslim, as well as other Nepalese citizens. The methods of torture included beatings during interrogation, suspension by the feet, threats of torture to extract confessions, and threats of rape or abuse directed at the detainees' friends, family, or relatives. The Detention Centre of Pokhara was frequently reported as a place where torture was being practised. The cases of the following individuals who were allegedly tortured were transmitted to the Government: Tir Bahadur Dewan, Babu Kazi and his son, Ms. Pal Kutnari, Ms. Nira Khanal, Mr. Dhruva Thapalia, Mr. Jhalak Subedi, Som Nath Pyasi, Damodar Lamuchhane, Keshav Giri, Man Nath Timilsina, Shakti Upadhyaya and Chandra Bahadur. Papua New Guinea Letters 127. On 6 June 1990 the Special Rapporteur addressed a letter to the Government of Papua New Guinea transmitting information alleging that since April 1989 the practice of torture and ill-treatment of detainees, sometimes resulting in death, appeared to occur on the island of Bougainville, in the context of a government campaign against an armed rebel group known as the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA). The situation reportedly deteriorated after the declaration of the state of emergency on the island on 26 June 1989. Most of the victims were said to be suspected militants or supporters of the BRA, and those alleged to be responsible for the abuses were members of the police or military forces. The following cases were reported: (a) Vincent Onari was detained on 24 November 1989 by members of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force. He was reportedly beaten and then taken to Army Camp 10 at Panguna. According to eyewitness reports Onari, who was semi-conscious as a result of the beating, was thrown out of a military vehicle to the ground, kicked and beaten with rifle butts and then shot four times in the head. Officials at the Asawa General Hospital later confirmed that he had been beaten before being shot dead; (b) Siang Montoru and Aquila Pinoko were detained by Defence Force soldiers on 21 November 1989. They were allegedly beaten until they were unconscious and were later hospitalized in critical condition; (c) Aloysius Minitong, a farmer in his mid-forties, was arrested on 7 December 1989 on suspicion of being a member of the BRA. He was first detained briefly at Boku Police Station, where he reportedly received knife cuts requiring stitches and where his knees were beaten until he could not walk. After being transferred to Army Camp 10 at Panguna, he was said to have been beaten and kicked in the head and body until he lost consciousness. He was taken to hospital where eyewitnesses said he could not stand. The next day he was reportedly taken to the Joint Forces Headquarters in Arawa, where he was again beaten during questioning. He was finally jailed at the Arawa Police Station where he was denied any medical attention. Aloysius Minitong died in his cell on 28 December 1989.