Committee urges the State party to grant appropriate
compensation to the author. The State party is under
an obligation to ensure that similar violations do not
occur in the future.
9.
The Committee would wish to receive
information, within 90 days, on any relevant
measures taken by the State party in respect of the
Committee's Views.
Communication No. 322/1988
Submitted by: Hugo Rodríguez on 23 July 1988
Alleged victim: The author
State party: Uruguay
Declared admissible: 20 March 1992 (forty-fourth session)
Date of adoption of Views: 19 July 1994 (fifty-first session)
Subject matter: Claim of denial of redress in the
form of investigation of abuses – Punishment
of those held responsible and compensation to
the victims by an individual allegedly tortured
by military authorities – Compatibility of
amnesty laws with the obligations of States
parties under the Covenant
individuals. The author was taken by plainclothes
policemen to the headquarters of the secret police
(Dirección Nacional de Información e Inteligencia),
where he allegedly was kept handcuffed for several
hours, tied to a chair and with his head hooded. He
was allegedly forced to stand naked, still handcuffed,
and buckets of cold water were poured over him. The
next day, he allegedly was forced to lie naked on a
metal bedframe; his arms and legs were tied to the
frame and electric charges were applied (picana
eléctrica) to his eyelids, nose and genitals. Another
method of ill-treatment consisted in coiling wire
around fingers and genitals and applying electric
current to the wire (magneto); at the same time,
buckets of dirty water were poured over him.
Subsequently, he allegedly was suspended by his
arms, and electric shocks were applied to his fingers.
This treatment continued for a week, after which the
author was relocated to another cell; there he
remained incomunicado for another week. On
24 June, he was brought before a military judge and
indicted on unspecified charges. He remained detained
at the "Libertad Prison" until 27 December 1984.
Procedural issues: Denial of domestic remedies by
State party – Failure to address the issues of
the case – Inadmissibility ratione materiae
Substantive issues: Torture and ill-treatment – State
party’s obligation to investigate violations of
the Covenant rights by a previous regime –
Right to an effective remedy
Articles of the Covenant: 2 (3) and 7
Articles of the Optional Protocol: 3 and 5 (2) (b)
1.
The author of the communication is Hugo
Rodríguez, a Uruguayan citizen residing in
Montevideo. Although he invokes violations by
Uruguay of articles 7, 9, 10, 14, 15, 18 and 19 of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,
he requests the Human Rights Committee to focus on
his allegations under article 7 of the Covenant and on
the State party's alleged failure properly to investigate
his case, to punish the guilty and to award him
appropriate compensation. The author is the husband
of Lucía Arzuaga Gilboa, whose communication
No. 147/1983 was also considered by the Committee.1
2.2 The author states that during his detention and
even thereafter, until the transition from military to
civilian rule, no judicial investigation of his case
could be initiated. After the re-introduction of
constitutional guarantees in March 1985, a formal
complaint was filed with the competent authorities.
On 27 September 1985, a class action was brought
before the Court of First Instance (Juzgado Letrado
de Primera Instancia en lo Penal de 4 Turno)
denouncing the torture, including that suffered by the
author, perpetrated on the premises of the secret
police. The judicial investigation was not, however,
initiated because of a dispute over the court's
jurisdiction, as the military insisted that only military
courts could legitimately carry out the investigations.
At the end of 1986, the Supreme Court of Uruguay
held that the civilian courts were competent, but in
the meantime, the Parliament had enacted, on
The facts as submitted by the author
2.1 In June 1983, the Uruguayan police arrested
the author and his wife, together with several other
1
See Official Records of the General Assembly, Fortyfirst Session, Supplement No. 40 (A/41/40), annex VIII.B,
Views adopted during the twenty-sixth session, on
1 November 1985, in which the Committee held that the
facts disclosed violations of articles 7 and 10, paragraph 1,
of the Covenant.
26
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