E/CN.4/2001/66/Add.2 page 76 40. Eduardo Silva Gomes was reportedly arrested on 4 November 1998 for homicide and sentenced on 23 May 1999 to 12 years’ imprisonment. On 23 April 1999, he was transferred to Nelson Hungria prison. On 23 April 2000, while he was working as a cleaner in Block Ten, he reportedly heard a guard asking a detainee for a bribe in order to allow his wife to enter his cell. The detainee is said to have refused to pay and to have set his mattress on fire. When Eduardo Silva Gomes reported the incident, he was reportedly taken to the Criminological Observation Centre (COC) block in the prison where he was allegedly severely beaten and kicked with rubber truncheons and wooden sticks by guards, in particular on the head, the genitals and the back. Water was then reported to have been poured on him before he was left naked in a cell. On every duty shift for five days, he is alleged to have been beaten. On 28 April, the Prison Ministry and public prosecutors are said to have visited him and to have seen marks on his body consistent with his allegations. Pictures are believed to have been taken. Thirty days later, it is reported that the delegado of the 50th district police station came to record his statement at the request of the State Secretary for Justice. He was then transferred to Block Six where he stayed for 30 days in a cell without a mattress or blanket. According to the information received, he was then transferred to Block Four where he has been left in his cell 24 hours a day. It is believed that he is denied visits and correspondence. 41. Availton Dias Ferreira reportedly attempted to escape from Block Eleven of Nelson Hungria prison on 8 March 2000. On the same day, he was transferred to the COC block where he was allegedly beaten with wooden sticks and was kicked on various parts of the body for more than 30 minutes. Then he was reportedly left naked in a cell in the COC block without a mattress or blanket for five days. His family is believed to have complained to human rights organizations. He was then said to have been punished in Block Six. 42. George Francisco de Assis was reportedly arrested by civil police officers in June 1998 and taken to the theft and robbery police station in Belo Horizonte where he was allegedly beaten by police officers. Later he reportedly tried to prevent a police officer from beating a boy, Guilherme Henrique da Silva, who had also been arrested. According to the information received, the police officer did not like this and threatened him with death several times. It is believed George Francisco de Assis was subsequently transferred to the prison in Ribeirão das Neves. His mother was allegedly threatened by a civil police officer that her son would be killed. According to the information received, he was released on 7 October 1998. 43. Wilson Pereira da Silva was reportedly detained at the theft and robbery police station in Belo Horizonte and allegedly beaten by a prison guard and police officers in September 1996. According to the information received, one week after his arrest, he was taken to the police station in charge of vehicle theft and robbery where he was allegedly hung on a “parrot’s perch” with the help of the delegado, and beaten. He was then allegedly taken back to the theft and robbery police station where he reportedly continued to suffer mistreatment and to be threatened with death. He allegedly underwent an official medical examination, which registered lesions consistent with his allegations. A judicial inquiry was allegedly opened and public prosecutors reportedly visited the police station on 6 May 1997. According to the information received, the following detainees have been subjected to reprisals for having testified in the case of Wilson Pereira da Silva. Wagner Rodrigues da Rocha reportedly had his right arm burned with a lighter and was made to eat newspapers that had published articles about the former’s