E/CN.4/1991/17
page 15
physical torture. Mrs. Cuello Villamil's lawyer reported her death to the
Seventh Court as having occurred in Caucasia, Antioquia. However, the Court
has not been able to provide evidence of her death.
49. On 6 June 1990, the Special Rapporteur sent a letter to the Government of
Colombia transmitting information relating to the following cases of torture
which allegedly occurred between 1989 and March 1990.
(a) Emiro Bustamante, aged 22, arrested on
transferred to Sanbenito Prison, Sucre. Members
the police commander allegedly beat him, covered
strung him up by the hands, which were tied with
10 February 1989 and
of the Sanbenito police and
his face up with a towel and
a nylon rope;
(b) Orlando Chamorro Medrano, aged 30, arrested on 16 February 1989 by
members of DAS and Battalion No. 5 in Corozal. They allegedly tortured him in
his house, in the presence of his family. The chief of DAS allegedly hit,
kicked and punched him; and then they bashed his head against a tree;
(c) Victor Julio Palacios Martinez, aged 29, arrested on 25 May 1989 by
members of the Anti-Guerrilla Army. A captain whose name has been transmitted
to the Government and two members of the Rifles Battalion are said to have
tortured him for about one and a half hours. They grabbed him by the hair and
beat him on the head with the handle of a knife and the butt of a rifle;
(d) Maximiliano Sanchez Mejia, aged 27, arrested on 17 June 1989 by
members of the Infantry Battalion who allegedly tortured him for over 50 hours
by kicking him and threatening him with electric shocks and death;
(e) Maria Elizabeth Suarez Giraldo, arrested on 2 March 1990 by members
of DAS and the Third Infantry Brigade in Cali. She was transferred to the
Third Brigade barracks and taken on 6 March to a detention centre where she is
still being held. During her detention, she was allegedly subjected to
torture and ill-treatment, including being deprived of food and water,
receiving death threats against herself and her seven-year-old daughter and
being beaten, forced to stand for 8 or 10 hours and jabbed in the chest with
pins. She was also allegedly raped by two men.
50. In a letter dated 6 December 1990, the Government provided information on
the case of Victor Julio Palacios Martinez. According to the information,
there were no complaints of the alleged torture of this person until
3 November 1990. Officials from the Attorney-General's Office nevertheless
visited the premises of the Rifles Battalion, where they found no evidence
leading to the conclusion that this person was arrested by military
personnel. The captain whose name was communicated to the Government as the
alleged torturer of Mr. Palacios Martinez is not on duty with the Battalion
and has never been listed as one of its active members.
51. On 19 November 1990, the Government of Colombia provided the
Special Rapporteur with information on three of the above-mentioned persons.
In the cases of Emiro Bustamante and Orlando Chamorro Medrano, it stated that
the Regional Prosecutor of the capital of Sucre informed the Prosecutors'
Office for the Defence of Human Rights, in a telegram of 25 August, that it
had so far not received any complaint of the alleged torture of these
persons. In the case of Maximiliano Sanchez Mejia, it was stated that a
communication sent by the Prosecutor's Office for the Defence of Human Rights
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