E/CN.4/1995/34
page 93
who were arrested in August 1991. Additional information received indicated
that these PROCUP and PDLP activists, imprisoned in the North Remand prison
of Mexico City, had been arrested by members of the judicial police of the
Federal District and subjected to torture. At the premises of the judicial
police of Cabeza de Juárez, Pablo Torres Hernández was subjected over the
course of several days to various forms of torture, including near-suffocation
with a plastic bag; beatings in the stomach, testicles and back and around the
lungs; a beating on the face which caused him to lose consciousness; mock
executions by firing squad; striking of both ears simultaneously with the
palms of the hand; burnings with cigarettes; and application of electric
shocks. Hermenegildo Torres Cruz was injured by several gunshots at the time
of his arrest and was reportedly subjected to such torture as beatings with
firearms while he was injured, death threats, mock executions by firing squad
and striking of both ears simultaneously with the palms of the hands. On the
basis of the confessions that they were forced to sign, the activists were
tried and sentenced to several years’ imprisonment. The cases were reported
to the National Human Rights Commission, which had not yet given an opinion
on them.
482. On 21 August 1992, the Special Rapporteur transmitted to the Government
the cases of Italo Ricardo Díaz, Delfino de Jesús Aguilar Hernández,
Rey Venegas Castro and Rubén Díaz Díaz, who were arrested in June 1991 by
members of the judicial police in Mexico City and allegedly subjected to
torture. The Government subsequently replied that the National Human Rights
Commission had not been able to compile all the documents of the case because
the representatives of the complainants had not provided all the documentation
required. The additional information about the detention of these persons,
who were serving sentences in the North Remand prison of Mexico City, included
medical certificates and statements by witnesses and repeated that they were
subjected to torture such as beatings all over their bodies, the introduction
of icy and mineral water into their nostrils, electric shocks, threats of
death and disappearance, and near-suffocation by placing plastic bags over
their heads. They were also forced to sign confessions which were used
against them afterwards in judicial proceedings. On 24 October 1994 the
Government replied that an investigation had been opened in order to determine
the responsibility of members of the Judicial Police and agents of the Public
Ministry in the prolonged detention and torture of the above-mentioned
persons.
483. On 26 August 1993 the Special Rapporteur transmitted to the Government
the case of Manuel Manríquez San Agustín, an inmate at the North Remand prison
of Mexico City, who had been sentenced to several years in prison allegedly on
the basis of confessions obtained under torture. The National Human Rights
Commission found evidence of torture and recommended that the Office of the
Attorney-General should carry out an investigation. On 25 August 1994 the
Special Rapporteur sent a further letter to the Government requesting
information about the measures taken in order to follow up the above-mentioned
recommendation. Subsequently, the Government sent a note summarizing the
measures taken by the Offices of the Attorney-General and the Government
Procurator of the Federal District against those presumed to have some kind of
responsibility. With regard to some of these officials, it was decided that
no offence had been committed; with regard to others the investigation has not
yet been completed. In the matter of the "recognition of innocence" put
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