E/CN.4/2006/6/Add.3 page 19 2. The Government reported that on 10 January 2004, the three men were arrested and the release of the kidnapped executive was secured. On 11 January, the three were charged with a number of offences under the Criminal Code in relation to the kidnapping. On 12 January, Eldar Gogberashvili, in the presence of his lawyer, pleaded guilty to the crime. After that, in the course of the preliminary investigation, he claimed several times that he was subjected to physical influence exerted by police officers and that his confession had been the result of beatings and inhumane and degrading treatment. He complained that high officials of the Tbilisi City Administration and Central Administration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs had threatened to shoot him and attempted to compel him to plead guilty at the time of his arrest on 10 January. He was also subjected to physical abuse in the Temporary Arrest Isolator of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. All the policemen involved in the arrest testified that once they had identified the alleged criminals driving the car, they tried to halt it. The suspects did not comply, but were eventually stopped. Although the police presented their identification to the three men, they violently resisted. Only by the use of legally permitted coercive measures were the police able to arrest them. According to the police officers, their use of special fighting methods, resorted to as urgent measures prompted by Eldar Gogberashvili’s resistance, might have caused his alleged injuries. Forensic medical examinations proved that he had suffered minor injuries without any long-term adverse effects to his health. No traces of cigarette or electrical burns could be identified. An independent forensic examination report refers to the existence of traces of burns that could have been made by a lit cigarette but fails to determine the severity of the alleged injuries and is vague as to their date. The expert expressed the view that it was possible for the injuries to have been inflicted in the period of time claimed by Eldar Gogberashvili. Further, the report is silent on the existence of electrical burns. The preliminary investigation concluded that the findings of the independent expert were unfounded and did not accept them. In view of the foregoing, the request to initiate a criminal case into the cause of his injuries was rejected by a decree of 30 June 2004. Concerning medical treatment, it is established that Eldar Gogberashvili arrived in Prison No. 1 on 12 January 2004. Having undergone a medical examination on 21 January 2004, which found his health status to be normal, there was no need for further treatment. He was later moved to Prison No. 7 and was held there from 9 March 2004 to 13 May 2004. Examined on arrival at Prison No. 7, his body was not marked with any kind of injuries. He was periodically provided medical aid and medicines, such as for heart disease and high blood pressure, and was placed under the close supervision of the doctor. The care was considered to be effective. During his stay, his health status was not assessed to be serious. His isolation was for security reasons: he was marked for assassination by other inmates, who accused him of murdering a criminal. Solitary confinement proved to be the only way to ensure his safety. Special measures were applied in conducting his interrogation in full isolation from others. Today he shares a cell with Giorgi Vashakidze. 3. Nodar Dudaev, a 30-year-old cattle farmer from Artsevi village, South Ossetia. On 16 March 2004 at around 9 a.m., as he was approaching the gate to his farm, he was fired upon without warning by masked men, allegedly members of a special unit of the Georgian Ministry of State Security. He was struck several times in the chest and left shoulder, and then hit in the face with the butt of a rifle. He was thrown into the trunk of the attackers’ car. His companion was thrown on top of him. Both men were driven to Gori, where Nodar Dudaev’s companion was taken to a police lock-up, then to Prison No. 1 and released one month later. Nodar Dudaev was taken to Gori Hospital, and underwent emergency surgery for his gunshot