E/CN.4/1992/17 page 34 Mixco district and tortured. He was apparently beaten on various parts of the body, particularly the head, burned on the chest, back and testicles with lighted cigarettes, and then thrown into a roadside ditch. 105. In a letter dated 5 December 1991 the Government sent replies concerning the cases of Sebastián Velasquez Mejia and Diana Ortiz. As to the former, the Government said that two ex-Civil Defence patrolmen in Chunimá Canton, Department of El Quiche, had been arrested and were being tried for assault and murder. As to the second case, inquiries were being conducted by the Sacatepéquez Criminal Court of First Instance and were at the confidential stage. Urgent appeals 106. On 20 November 1991 the Special Rapporteur sent an urgent appeal to the Government of Haiti concerning the following persons: André Augustin; Wilson Bien-Aimé; Béatrice César; Edwin César; Ronand Armstron Chariot; Daniel Delisle; Louis Donald; Berthelemy François; Gaspard Fritzner; Béatrice Fortuna; Frantz Fortuna; Marjorie Gard; Gerald Gilles; Ginette Grégoire; Patrick Isidore; Roland Jean; Chenet Jean-Baptiste; Béus Jean-François; Opem Jean-Julien; Wesley Jean-Julien; Elfine Jean Jumel; Marie-Claude Jospech; Ronald Léon; Edieu Louissaint; Evans Motellus; Stanley Montour; Léon Ronald; Béatrice Rosilbe; Bellande Sincère; Hans Termilus; Rodrigue Thermilus; Frantz Thermilus; Jean-Baptiste Yves. According to the information received, on 12 November 1991 soldiers burst into a press conference held by the National Federation of Haitian students (FENEH) at the Faculty of Science in Port-au-Prince and arrested these persons. They were put onto trucks and taken to the national jail and to the Anti-Gang Squad where, according to the information received, they were tortured; on the day of the arrest, persons living close by heard screams from the building. 107. On 10 December 1991 the Special Rapporteur sent an urgent appeal to the Government of Haiti concerning Mr. Jean-Mario Paul, a Radio Antilles correspondent in the Petit Gôave region, reportedly arrested on 9 November 1991 in Port-au-Prince. He was allegedly transferred to Petit Gôave after his arrest and badly beaten up. In the circumstances, fears were expressed about Mr. Paul's state of health and the fact that he might still be subjected to ill-treatment. The charges against him are said to be setting fire to a courthouse and a police post in the course of demonstrations on 30 September 1991. Mr. Paul maintained that he was present only in his capacity as a journalist. Letters 108. On 6 August 1991 the Special Rapporteur sent the Government of Haiti a letter transmitting information to the effect that cases of torture and ill-treatment, as well as deaths in detention as a result of torture, continued to occur in Haiti. The source maintained that one of the methods of torture was the "djak", which consists in tying the victim's hands together, slipping a baton under the thighs and over the arms and using sharp blows to the body. Arrests, often for minor offences, sometimes lead to torture that causes very