demonstrations. The Subcommittee received a list of 24 members of the armed forces who had been injured during the demonstrations at Toncontin airport on 4 July 2009. 67.On 22 September 2009 numerous arrests were made in Tegucigalpa in connection with the demonstrations organized for President Zelaya’s return to the country and the curfew that was imposed. Members of the Subcommittee could see from their hotel how the police and army went about the arrests, with extensive use of force against the demonstrators. Many of those arrested were taken to the Chochi Sosa baseball stadium. The Subcommittee visited the stadium that day and was informed by the police officer in charge that 109 people, including minors aged 14 to 17, had been taken there from 7 a.m. onwards, and had been released starting at 11 a.m. Sixty-seven of them were accused of violating the curfew and 42 of causing damage to private property (2 of these had been referred to the Office of the Attorney-General on suspicion of committing an offence). The reason given for using the stadium was the large number of arrests, but people were held only as long as it took to establish their identity. Representatives of the Office of the Attorney-General, the Office for the National Commission for Human Rights (CONADEH) and NGOs who were there described the arrests as unlawful, given that the stadium was not a proper place of detention. 68.Many of those arrested stated that they had been beaten with sticks and cudgels and could show the marks. Three had been taken to hospital with serious injuries. As an example, the Subcommittee examined three individuals who said they had been arrested during the demonstration. Two of them had had their hands tied behind their backs and had been ordered to kneel down. They were then beaten repeatedly with cudgels. One of them presented with five lesions measuring 3 cm by 15–30 cm in a “tramline” pattern and in various shades of red, with no broken skin. The largest lesions overlapped on his back. There were also more than 10 superficial lesions of varying shapes, reddish in colour. The second person presented with a tramline pattern on the back of the neck measuring 2 cm by 12 cm, with reddish edges and without ridges. On the right arm, near the humerus, there was a similar injury, measuring 1.5 cm by 14 cm. The man reported that his bag, containing a video camera, had been confiscated by the police and no receipt given. The third person stated that he had not resisted arrest but had nevertheless been repeatedly beaten withcudgels and kicked. On the back of the neck and right arm he had two typical tramline injuries measuring 3 cm by 5 cm and 2 cm by 12 cm, both red at the edges. On his back he had a scratch measuring some 2 cm by 5 cm, with no special features and partially incrusted. The Subcommittee found that these injuries were consistent with the allegations. 69.While the Subcommittee was at the stadium, an ambulance arrived bringing a forensic physician, who got out for a few minutes and then made to leave straight away. When a member of the Subcommittee approached him, he said he had come to examine the injured if the prosecutor asked him to. No such request had been made so he was unable to conduct any examinations. The representative of CONADEH who was also there said he could do nothing in this situation. The Subcommittee recommends that the powers of CONADEH should be extended to allow it to order a forensic medical examination where torture or ill-treatment is suspected. 70.The Subcommittee visited the training hospital the same day. The doctors and nurses seemed uncomfortable with the visit and most of them, including the doctor in charge of the hospital, declined to be interviewed. One doctor agreed to give some information. He said that he had treated 15 people in connection with the day’s events, who presented with trauma to the head, other injuries and signs of beatings. All had already been sent home. A nurse approached the Subcommittee confidentially to say there had in fact been 20 injured people, and showed a list of names and injuries. All were men aged between 19 and 62. One had been shot in the foot. Another doctor subsequently corroborated the nurse’s information. 71.The Subcommittee noted that there were no registers. The names of patients arriving at the training hospital are written on a plain sheet of paper, with an initial diagnosis and brief description of the treatment required. The registration sheet for that day showed six trauma cases, three of them head trauma cases. 72.While the Subcommittee was at the training hospital two people arrived with gunshot wounds. The first was a youth of around 20, and his companion told the Subcommittee that at around 3 p.m. that day they had been taking part in a demonstration at Colonia Pedregal, during which there had been no incidents of any kind, when police had fired at the young man at a range of 2 metres. The Subcommittee noted that the injured man presented a wound measuring around 0.5 cm and a complete fracture of the left knee, which was consistent with the description of the facts. The person interviewed showed the Subcommittee two bullet shells that they had picked up at the scene. 73.As to the other wounded man, his companions said they were in Alto de en Medio when a group of masked police in camouflage uniforms on a pickup truck came by, spraying tear gas at the demonstrators, and fired at them from behind at a range of around 20 metres. The Subcommittee noted a lesion measuring some 0.5 cm at approximately the height of the tenth rib, which would fit the description of the facts. The victim was in critical condition, with very low blood pressure, and his chances of survival were not good. The Subcommittee recommends that the State party should carry out a thorough, prompt, impartial enquiry into the events referred to in paragraphs 69 and 70. 74.Both the Attorney for Human Rights and DNIC have offices in the training hospital. In the Subcommittee’s view, the fact that these are adjacent offices may discourage people from reporting torture or ill-treatment. IV.Legal and institutional framework for the prevention of torture and illtreatment A.Definition of torture in the Honduran Criminal Code 75.Legislative Decree No. 191-36 of 31 October 1996 added article 209-A to the Criminal Code, whereby any public employee or official, including employees or officials of penal establishments or juvenile protection centres, who, acting in abuse of their office and with a view to obtaining a confession or information from any person or punishing the person for any act that they have committed or are suspected of having committed, subjects the person to conditions or procedures which, by their nature, duration or other