E/CN.4/1992/17
page 45
133. In the case of Kader Fall, an inquiry revealed that on the evening
of 16 April 1988 he had actually been hit by a policeman at the Civitanova
Marche police station. Criminal proceedings were brought against the
policeman, but he was acquitted on 20 December 1988 by the Macerata examining
magistrate because the facts did not seem to constitute an offence: the
accused person did not strike Mr. Fall to compel him to do anything but simply
as a reaction to the way he behaved with provocation.
134. In the case of Domenico Garzón, he escaped during pre-trial detention
with weapons belonging to the San Bonifacio carabinieri. When he was caught
by the guards, he started a hand-to-hand struggle and resisted sharply when he
was taken back to the gendarmerie. He was then imprisoned in Verona. He
complained to the Verona Public Prosecutor for alleged ill-treatment during
this episode and the Public Prosecutor later requested an order for dismissal
of the proceedings, dated 17 January 1989.
135. On 18 October 1991 the Special Rapporteur sent a letter to the Italian
Government in connection with an incident which reportedly occurred during a
search in the Fuorni prison in Salerno on 15 December 1990. According to the
information received, the search was conducted by about 150 prison warders
belonging to the regional warders' office in Naples. The warders, who were
masked and carried truncheons, went into the cells and forced the prisoners to
undress and to do press-ups. The prisoners were then punched and kicked and
compelled to pass, one by one, between two lines of warders who clubbed them.
The source maintains that some prisoners also suffered sexual assault and
young prisoners were forced to slap older prisoners in the face and spit on
them. According to the source, the suspicion that prisoners were in
possession of weapons to be used for a mutiny was the reason behind the
search, but the same source contends that no firearm was discovered and the
prisoners committed no act of violence during the search. After the incident,
the prison infirmary issued more than 100 medical certificates for injuries
which, according to the medical staff, would need three to five days to heal.
Four or five prisoners were reportedly transferred to hospital. According to
one of the prisoners, who sent a letter about the matter to a private radio
station, the prisoners wounded in the search included one who lost an eye,
another whose eardrum was ripped and a third whose hands were broken. A visit
by members of the Radical Party to the prison, approximately a month after the
incident, enabled some prisoners to complain about violent pains in the back
and ribs and the absence of X-rays when they had asked for them to be taken.
According to the source, administrative and judicial inquiries have been
initiated to shed light on the circumstances of the incident.
Urgent appeals
136. On 12 June 1991 the Special Rapporteur sent an urgent appeal to the
Government of Jordan concerning Muhammad Jaber Hasan Mut'ab, aged 24, who was
arrested on 30 April 1991 on suspicion of being connected with an illegal
Palestinian group. It was reported that one week after his arrest, he was
taken to the General Intelligence Department (GID) headquarters in Amman,
where he was being held incommunicado and without charge, under emergency
legislative provisions which permit the holding of detainees indefinitely
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