CAT/C/75
page 74
33
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Report on the Situation of Human Rights in
Mexico. OEA/Ser. L/V/II.100. Doc.7 rev.1. 24 September 1998.
34
Article 3: “A public servant who, in exercise of his official functions, inflicts severe pain or
suffering, whether physical or mental, on an individual in order to obtain information or a
confession from that individual or a third party, or to inflict punishment for something which that
individual has or is supposed to have done, or to coerce him into performing or refrain from
performing a specific action, commits the crime of torture.
“Discomfort or penalties resulting solely from - whether inherent in or incidental
to - legal punishment, or stemming from a legitimate act of authority, shall not be considered
torture.”
35
These, according to a compilation given to the Committee members at the Office of the
Attorney-General, include two States whose legislation does not cover torture as a specific
offence and one, mentioned in paragraph 68 of this report, which limits the purpose of torture
solely to obtaining information or an admission of guilt. The compilation does not say how
matters stand in five States.
36
Inasmuch as the Inter-American Convention is broader in scope, it, too, should be taken into
consideration when discussing how the subject is covered in Mexican law.
37
The official name of the State party is the “United Mexican States”: article 1 of the Political
Constitution.
38
In Mexican legal parlance, the indiciado is a person whom there is evidence to implicate in
the illegal occurrence under investigation. Real Academia Española, Diccionario de la Lengua
Española: el que tiene contra sí la sospecha de haber cometido un delito (one suspected of
having committed a crime).
39
Pursuant to article 16, second paragraph, of the Constitution, before issuing an arrest warrant
the judicial authority requires there to be in existence a report or action relating to a matter
defined by law as a crime punishable at least by a custodial sentence, and information
establishing the corpus delicti and the likely involvement of the suspect.
40
1998 report.
41
Jalisco Human Rights Commission, Recommendations, January-December 2000.
42
The National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) mentioned, in its recommendation 18/97,
a case in which a detainee had been held for five days before being brought before a judge,
whereas the official records indicated that he had been held only one night. The Federal District
Human Rights Commission, in recommendation 3/99, refers to another case in which a detainee
was held in secret and tortured for five hours between being apprehended and being handed over
to the Public Prosecutor and registered.
43
See above, paragraphs 155 to 159.
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