A/HRC/19/61/Add.1 some detainees in Kasserine and Bizerte indicated that they have never seen him, or mentioned that they were prevented from meeting him. Some detainees mentioned that ICRC and the Tunisian League for the Defence of Human Rights also pay regular visits. (b) Police custody 54. The Special Rapporteur visited the Soukra police station and the police detention centre at Bouchoucha, which serves the Tunis metropolitan area. He also visited the infamous DSS facility located in the basement of the Ministry of the Interior. The facility, now closed, had been used during the Ben Ali regime for holding suspects in secret and for subjecting them to torture and ill-treatment. 55. The Bouchoucha detention centre was divided into two wings, holding detainees in garde à vue. Men, about 25 at the time of the visit, were held in one large cell in one wing, and women and juveniles were held in the second wing at the far end of the facility. A separate quarter for elderly and ill people was empty. A corridor from the men’s cell led to an open courtyard where detainees could walk or smoke during certain hours of the day. There was no shower in the cell, only a sink and limited access to water for washing. The adjacent sanitary facility was in poor condition, but detainees maintained an adequate level of hygiene in the facility. The cell had several mattresses and blankets on the floor, but no chair or table, and was relatively well maintained. 56. While the entire detention centre was generally in an acceptable physical state, the Special Rapporteur was told that the mattresses were brought in, and juveniles were separated from adults, only a few days before his visit. 57. Some of the detainees were new arrivals; a few were in the extended period of garde à vue. Overall, the Special Rapporteur did not hear allegations of prolonged periods of detention in violation of the six-day limit of garde à vue. The Special Rapporteur found that dates of arrest, transfer to other facilities and release from custody were properly registered and records maintained. For the most part, the registries in police stations were adequate, although on at least two occasions the Special Rapporteur found inconsistencies in the registering of the date of arrival of a detainee. In another case, the detainee was supposed to be released the day the Special Rapporteur visited the premises, as the garde à vue limit had been exceeded. In at least two cases in Bouchoucha, the names of detainees had not been registered. 58. From detainees currently in prison, the Special Rapporteur heard consistent allegations and testimonies about acts of torture and ill-treatment that had taken place during the periods of arrest and interrogation. The mistreatment allegedly consisted mainly of trauma caused by punches, kicks, slapping and, occasionally, blows with objects, and verbal insults and threats. In at least two cases the Special Rapporteur heard allegations about being subjected to electric shocks to the testicles and the introduction of foreign objects into the anus. Acts of torture and ill-treatment 59. The Special Rapporteur heard consistent allegations that torture and ill-treatment continues to be practiced by the police forces, in the form of beating with a stick, kicking, slapping, burning with a cigarette, verbal abuse and threats, during the arrest and first hours of apprehension and during interrogation. 60. The Special Rapporteur received information and heard allegations indicating that torture and ill-treatment take place during arrest and interrogation in one of the secret premises allegedly used by the judicial police in Kasserine. A forensic examination of one detainee who alleged that he had been beaten and burned with a cigarette during the interrogation in such a place revealed medical evidence consistent with the allegation. One 12

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