CCPR/C/125/D/2657/2015 7.6 Regarding the State party’s argument that there was a lack of physical evidence to support his account, the author notes that no justification was provided for the bruise on his penis, the sores on the inside of his upper lip or his loss of his voice. He recalls the two expert reports, dated 31 March 2010 and 18 April 2011, which were prepared by Dr. Irene Landa Tabuyo, and stresses that they were drawn up at the request of the investigative judge and were, therefore, not “private” reports prepared by a doctor chosen by the applicant, as asserted by the representative of the State party. 20 The author recalls that the reports show that the evidence is compatible with his account. The reports state that suffocation – from which one can recover quite quickly – does not typically leave any external marks on the body; that physically demanding exercise does not leave visible external marks; that threats, humiliation and shouts do not leave external traces; that, regarding the sexual violence recounted by the author, wounds can be clinically insignificant or even absent; and that tying a rope around the penis can cause bruising. As for the fact that, when the author was admitted to the prison, the doctor did not observe any marks on his skin, the author argues that this implies either that external physical marks can disappear quickly or that the prison doctor was not sufficiently diligent in conducting the examination. 7.7 The author denies that the evidence-gathering process was exhaustive, since his representative was not informed of it and was consequently unable to attend the recording of the statements of the forensic doctor, designated lawyer or his own, which consisted of nothing more than the confirmation of the complaint by a judge unrelated to the case. In addition, the author notes that the officers of the Guardia Civil were summoned to testify as suspects and therefore had no obligation to tell the truth. Had they been summoned as witnesses, it would have been possible to obtain more information and to hear the testimony of all those involved, rather than only the five suspects. 7.8 Furthermore, the author emphasizes that the judge of the National High Court, despite having the obligation – once notified of an offence – to obtain testimony and transmit it to the competent court in order for an investigation to be opened, did not do so. The author recalls that it is not known what happened to the analyses ordered by the judge or to the complaint lodged by his father. 7.9 The author contends that, if a physical and psychological examination had been carried out in which the Istanbul Protocol guidelines had been applied, his account could have been proven to be true. In the author’s words, “the Spanish courts are reluctant to obtain such proof”. 7.10 Regarding the supposed existence of an ETA manual that instructs militants to systematically lodge complaints of torture, the author submits that it is nothing more than a crude lie designed to discredit the innumerable complaints of torture and to cover up a habitual practice during incommunicado detention. The author maintains that, on the contrary, there have been numerous investigations into the torture of Basques held in incommunicado detention and that the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment has, on numerous occasions, expressed its concern in this regard. The author cites the March 2009 publication by the Basque government entitled Documentación de la Tortura en detenidos incomunicados en el País Vasco desde el año 2000 al 2008: Abordaje científico (Documentation of torture against incommunicado detainees in the Basque Country between 2000 and 2008: a scientific approach) (p. 7),21 according to which the prevalence and scope of the practice of torturing members of the population under study are, at the very least, worrisome and should be considered in themselves as a genuine problem by the competent authorities. The study goes on to state that the evidence does not support the hypothesis that all or most of the complaints are false and are made in accordance with general instructions to that effect and that its findings are consistent with those of international institutions, i.e. that the complaints are not of a stereotypical nature and cannot be considered as mere fabrications. 20 21 10 The author provided the judge’s decision of 1 March 2011 in which he requested the Forensic Medical Clinic to prepare a report explaining the ways in which a 3-mm bruise might appear on the upper portion of the penis and the possible causes of sores on the upper lip. The author attached a copy of the document to his submission. GE.19-13559