E/CN.4/1995/34
page 127
transferred to the Sasomendi barracks. A hood was reportedly placed over his
head and he was forced to do press-ups for a period of 11 hours while being
beaten with bare hands and with a sheaf of papers. He also allegedly received
death threats. He was released the following day without charge and he lodged
a judicial complaint on 8 September 1993.
664. With respect to this case the Government informed that Mr. Berasategui
remained in detention from 8.30 p.m. to 6.20 a.m. and that from 4.30 he was
interrogated in the presence of his lawyer. The allegation that he was
ill-treated for 11 hours is therefore false. Moreover, he never made a
complaint before a judicial authority.
665. Juan Calvo Azabal was arrested on 19 August 1993 at Nanclares de Oca,
Alava, by members of the Ertzaintza police, who accused him of having stolen a
vehicle at the Arkante base in Alava. According to the forensic report, his
death was caused by asphyxiation triggered by the self-defence sprays used by
the police. In addition, numerous wounds were reportedly discovered on the
body.
666. With respect to this case, the Government sent copies of a number of
documents referring to the investigation carried out by the Public Ministry
and the judge into Mr. Calvo’s death. According to them, the police had to
use the above-mentioned spray when they were attacked by the detainee who was
trying to run away. At the same time he was severely beaten. Judicial
procedings were initiated against eight policemen accused of being responsible
for the death.
Follow-up to cases included in previous reports
667. In his letter of 4 July 1994 the Special Rapporteur reminded the
Government of a number of cases transmitted in 1993 with respect to which
investigations were pending. The Government referred to them in its letter
of 27 October 1994. Regarding Eduardo Basabe Larrinaga and Germán Cristóbal
Aznar, the Government indicated that on 25 February 1994 the cases had been
provisionally filed for lack of evidence. With respect to the case of
Arnaldo Otegui Mondragón, the Government stated that those accused had been
acquitted. In the cases of Kepa Urra Goridi and Koldo Arrese Garate, the
Government replied that the trial had not yet concluded.
Sri Lanka
Information transmitted to the Government and replies received
668. By letter dated 5 August 1994 the Special Rapporteur informed the
Government that he had received reports alleging that armed men from the army
or other military forces, dressed either in military uniform or civilian
clothes, had on numerous occasions arrested ethnic Tamils and held them in
secret places of detention for a week or longer. One such location was
alleged to be an army camp located off Galle Road, Kollupitiya, Colombo,
behind the Indian High Commission and the American Information Centre. The
detainees were said often to be interrogated under torture, the purpose of
which was to make them confess to involvement with the Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Similar arrests were said to have been carried out by a
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