E/CN.4/2001/66/Add.2 page 147 323. Otávio dos Santos Filho was reportedly summoned to appear in court in 1996 and sentenced in absentia to five years and four months’ imprisonment for armed robbery. According to the prosecutor, he had never received the summons as his address “did not exist” and the sentence was published in the official gazette. In February 1997, he was reportedly arrested by military police and taken to the DEPATRI jail in São Paulo where he is said to have been detained for eight months. On 13 October 1997, his sister-in-law allegedly visited him and found him in good health. On the following Friday, his sister reportedly found out that her brother was sick. The following day, she went to the jail to take medication to him. Outside the police station, she was informed by him through the use of her mobile phone that his request to be taken to the emergency room had been refused. On Saturday at 4 p.m., she called him again and he allegedly said that he had been taken to the hospital where he had received some treatment from a nurse but had not been allowed to see a doctor. According to the information received, the previous Thursday he had experienced severe breathing problems and had insisted that he be taken to the emergency room. The delegado reportedly stated that it was too early. He was allegedly taken from his cell, brought to the parlatorio and punched and kicked throughout the night, and taken back to his cell the following morning. A witness outside the jail reportedly saw him vomiting blood when he was being taken to the hospital. Upon hearing about the events, his sister tried to visit him, but her brother was reportedly too afraid of being beaten again if he spoke to her. According to the information received, a lawyer was reportedly informed by the family but did not request immediate access to him. His sister reportedly spoke to him last on Sunday, when he was said to have been feeling very weak. When she went to the jail on Monday morning, together with a sister-in-law, the delegado is said to have informed her of her brother’s death. She was reportedly allowed to see his body on the same day. The death certificate is said to state the cause of death as “undetermined”. His sister reportedly paid for a copy of the IML certificate, according to which he died in hospital because he had hit his head while in jail; no alcohol or drugs had been found in his blood. The sister allegedly sent this certificate to a medical doctor in Guaratingueta, who concluded on the basis of the certificate and the photographs she had taken of the body that Otávio dos Santos Filho had died from a haemorrhage. In December 1997, the human rights commission, through the prosecutor, reportedly started proceedings and had a first audience with a judge. The prosecutor was reportedly taken off the case and replaced. The judge reportedly heard witnesses who reported that on Sunday night the inmates had called for help, that the victim had been bleeding and that the delegado had stated that there had been no car available to take him to the hospital. According to the information received, the proceedings were stopped for unknown reasons. The Special Rapporteur would be grateful to receive information about the outcome of the judicial proceedings. 324. Nilson Saldanha was reportedly arrested in flagrante delicto on 15 July 1998 and taken to the 50th, the 70th and later to the 55th district police station. He was allegedly found guilty of robbing a truck. He was reportedly sentenced and was awaiting the appeal. He reportedly asked to be transferred to a prison. On 9 July 2000, the civil police officers of the delegacia reportedly asked the Special Operations Group (GOE) to enter the cell where he was detained to stop a fight. According to the information received, they entered the cell, told the prisoners to remove their clothes and searched them for weapons. When they found a gun, they reportedly started beating detainees (it is thought there was a total of 36 prisoners in the cell), including the abovenamed person who could not get up. The GOE are said to have poured liquid over some