E/CN.4/1992/17 page 94 Uganda Urgent appeals 255. On 23 May 1991 the Special Rapporteur sent an urgent appeal to the Government of Uganda concerning three members of the National Assembly who had reportedly been detained and might be subjected to torture: Ornara Atubo, Irene Apiu Julu and Zachary Olum. Elders and community leaders from the northern Ugandan districts of Lira, Gulu and Kitgum, they were charged with treason on 8 May 1991 in Kampala Chief Magistrate's Court. They were among several hundred people said to have been arrested since the end of March in a major military operation in the north of the country and held subsequently without charge or trial in military custody. Omara Atubo, Zachary Olum and Irene Apiu Julu appeared in court together with 15 other persons, including the former Ugandan High Commissioner in London, Andrew Adimola, and a politician, Tiberio Atwoma Okeny. It was said that Omara Atubo, Zachary Olum and Irene Apiu Julu showed signs of having been beaten and ill-treated while in military custody. It was alleged, moreover, that other prisoners in custody had been beaten and ill-treated and that the prisoners had been denied food. Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Urgent appeals and Government replies 256. On 22 January 1991 the Special Rapporteur sent an urgent appeal to the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics concerning the following persons of Armenian origin who were reportedly arrested on 24 October 1990 in Kajavan village, in the Martakert region of Karabagh: A. Sarkisian, N. Danielian, L. Gasparian, V. Kocharian, A. Babayan, A. Danielian, S. Stepanian, M. Sanian and V. Gabrielian. It was alleged that these persons were arrested during an operation carried out by troops belonging to the Interior Ministry, and that they were being held, without charge, in the prison of Shushi in Azerbaijan. It was further alleged that they had been subjected to torture, including rape and beatings, purportedly in order to extract confessions from them. They were reported to be in a grave condition and fears were expressed that they might again be subjected to torture. 257. On 18 July 1991 the Government provided the Special Rapporteur with detailed information on the incident giving rise to the detention of 24 citizens of Armenian nationality and the subsequent release of 15 of them. It further reported that criminal proceedings had been instituted against A.A. Sarkisian, V.S. Kocharian, S.S. Stepanian, A.V. Danielian and others (9 in all). All were being held in custody as a preventive measure and there were no grounds for altering this preventive measure. No complaints of bias in the investigation or the use of unlawful investigative measures had been received from the accused. Letters 258. On 6 August 1991 the Special Rapporteur sent a letter to the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics transmitting information alleging that the practice of torture against Armenian prisoners in Azerbaijan