A/HRC/13/39/Add.2
143. The forensic expert of the Special Rapporteur’s team concluded that the detainee
suffered from fever and showed signs of an important injury on the right elbow, probably
with bone trauma. He also presented signs of recent injuries on the back. The findings
corroborated the explanation given by the prisoner about the violence against him.
Police Headquarters (Jefatura), Montevideo
Visited on 26 March 2009
General information
144. Police Headquarters in Montevideo is the seat of different divisions, such as
homicide, theft and robbery, economic crimes and others. Each division has its own
detention facilities. At the time of the visit, no one was being held at the homicide division.
The four cells were very small; two of them had bars, the other two had steel doors. None
of the cells had light and when the doors of the cells were closed detainees were locked in
complete darkness. In the theft and robbery division, one detainee was locked in a cell
while two young boys were in being held the interrogation office. According to the officer
on duty, the damp, dirty and dark cells could, be occupied by one to eight detainees. The
economic crimes division had three cells, of which two were completely dark. The only cell
with light was used as a storage room. However, the officer on duty explained that
detainees were often held in the interrogation room and did not have to stay in the cells.
Individual cases
145. Hernán Darío Quiroga Niñez, aged 21, was detained in the theft and robbery
division. A radio patrol had arrested him the day before in the Las Torres area and took him
to headquarters. During an earlier arrest, he had been shot twice in the foot. This time, he
tried to escape on a stolen motorcycle but was stopped by the police. He was overpowered
by three police officers, who cuffed his hands behind his back with metal handcuffs. He
was interrogated in an office. The interrogation was calm, with no threats or force.
However, he noted that if one did not behave well, the officers could get nasty. He had been
arrested some 20 times before and was never ill-treated. He had been in the cell since 4
p.m. the previous day and had not eaten anything. His family had not been notified of the
arrest. He had seen his lawyer, who told him that he would face charges of robbery. During
transfer, detainees were handcuffed and the police kicked, beat and ill-treated them, and
they were often forced to be naked.
Cárcel Central – transfer area (second visit)
Visited on 26 March 2009
General information
146. When the Special Rapporteur visited the transfer area of Cárcel Central, where
detainees are kept for a few days before being transferred to the penitentiaries, a second
time on the evening of 26 March, he encountered a detainee who had been interviewed
during the first visit. The detainee was brought to a small cell behind an office by a police
officer. He had an obvious purple bruise under his right eye, which was not visible when he
was first examined by the forensic expert of the Special Rapporteur’s team on 23 March
2009.
Individual cases
147. José de Matteis, aged 45, explained that he and other detainees who had spoken to
the Special Rapporteur during his first visit on 23 March had been beaten as a reprisal after
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