E/CN.4/1992/17 page 95 continued. The source quoted excerpts from testimony given by four Armenian physicians: Valerie Khachaturian, aged 44, from Karabagh, Azerbaijan; Sarkis Hagopian, aged 53, the principal doctor of Getashen village hospital, Karabagh, Azerbaijan; Vartan Hovhannesian and Gevork Grigorian, both from Armenia. The four physicians reportedly testified that they had been beaten severely for about five days, and that they were kept in an outdoor prison camp in a completely naked state; they were allegedly exposed to rain and forced to sleep naked on bare metal beds. According to the source all four had swollen faces and injured bodies at the time of their release. 259. It was further alleged, on the basis of accounts by former prisoners, that the most common methods of torture of Armenian prisoners in Azerbaijan were severe beatings, often resulting in broken bones and damage to the spine and internal organs, and walking on prisoners and urinating and defecating on them. There were also allegations that rape was a common form of torture, but no further details were given. It was alleged that no medical attention was allowed. One report, describing the situation in Shushi prison, described how 50 Armenian prisoners were forced into a 9.5 square metre cell. It was alleged that Azeri jailers urinated on the prisoners from an opening in the roof. 260. Individual cases involving residents of Stepanakert were reported. They concerned the following persons: Hzmanov Safaryan, Gamlet Bagiryan, and Gennadi Artiunyan and his three-year-old son. 261. In addition to the aforementioned the Special Rapporteur received information concerning cases of ill-treatment or police brutality which had allegedly occurred in other regions of the Soviet Union. The cases of the following individuals were reported: Yu Behtchanov, Yuryi Ivanov, Olga Yantchenko and Genadyan Makarov. United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Letters 262. On 18 October 1991 the Special Rapporteur sent a letter to the Government of the United Kingdom transmitting information alleging that Mr. Damien Austin, aged 17, was ill-treated while in custody at the police interrogation centre in Castlereagh (Belfast) from 7 to 10 May 1991, and again from 17 to 20 August 1991. He alleged that, during his first period of detention, he had been verbally abused, punched, slapped and spat upon by detectives. He also said that he had been burned on the face with a cigarette, that his trousers and underpants were repeatedly pulled down, that a cigarette lighter was held toward his pubic hair and that death threats were made by his interrogators. In the period following his release, and before his second arrest, Damien Austin claimed to have been regularly harassed by the police. He alleged that during his second period of detention he had been regularly punched in the stomach, on the throat and arms, and on the back of the head. Pressure was put on his genital area which resulted in bleeding and, on one occasion, his neck was held so tightly in an armlock that he was choking and felt that he would pass out. Both the doctor on duty at Castlereagh and his