129
with nightsticks or batons marked with the words “human rights” when
they were being interrogated at the Judicial Police cells in Quito." 416
360.
Moreover, during the working visit to Ecuador of the Rapporteur on the
Rights of Persons Deprived of Liberty, some non governmental organizations noted that the
practice of torture for purposes of criminal investigation and mistreatment committed by
police agents still persists. 417 In this regard, the Federation of Women of Sucumbios
claimed that cases of physical and psychological abuse have been reported at the
Provisional Detention Center of Lago Agrio (such as the practice of “submarining,” electric
shocking on genitals and beatings of hooded detainees). Additionally, the Ecumenical
Human Rights Commission (CEDHU) stated that it is common to find in the dungeons
(underground holding cells) of the Judicial Police and the Anti‐drug Unit people who have
been victims of torture investigation processes. According to reports, these people often
are not provided medical care so that no evidence remains of the torture, and are only
transferred to the prisons of the penitentiary system after the physical traces of torture
have disappeared.
361.
Furthermore, the IACHR has also noted this type of practice in some
countries of the Caribbean. For example, in Merits Report No. 48/01, regarding the
Bahamas, it was established that two of the victims were targeted by the police with acts
violence to get them to sign confessions about their complicity in the crime of homicide.
The police beat the head of one of them against a desk, punched him in the ear, the
stomach and tried to strangle him; a plastic bag was put over the head of the other victim,
and he was beaten on the wrists with bamboo sticks and his testicles were squeezed
418
tightly.
362.
Similarly, in Merits Report No. 81/07, regarding Guyana, the IACHR
attested to the fact that the victims were beaten hard by the police and that the
confessions obtained thereby were admitted as evidence in a court proceeding in which
they were sentenced to the death penalty. 419
363.
Another illustrative example of resorting to torture and other cruel,
inhuman and degrading treatment as a means of obtaining information from detainees is
the practice carried out against the detainees of Guantanamo Naval Base. 420 Many of these
416
United Nations, Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Report on Mission to Ecuador,
A/HRC/4/40/Add.2, adopted on October 26, 2006, para. 91.
417
IACHR, Press Release 56/10 ‐ IACHR Rapporteurship on Persons Deprived of Liberty Concludes Visit
to Ecuador. Washington, D.C., May 28, 2010.
418
IACHR, Report No. 48/01, Cases 12.067, 12.068 and 12.086, Merits, Michael Edwards, Omar Hall,
Brian Schroeter and Jerónimo Bowleg, Bahamas, April 4, 2001, paras. 91 and 190.
419
IACHR, Report No. 81/07, Case 12.504, Merits, Daniel and Kornel Vaux, October 15, 2007, paras. 48‐
52.
420
In this regard, the IACHR granted precautionary measures on May 21, 2006, to protect the life and
physical integrity of Omar Khdar (MC‐8‐06). In a public hearing held regarding this precautionary measure, the
petitioners alleged inter alia that Mr. Khdar was interrogated by military personnel; denied medical treatment;
handcuffed and shackled for prolonged periods of time; threatened with mad dogs; threatened with rape; and his
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