CAT/C/55/D/522/2012 pistol to the complainant’s head, kicked an open wound on his right buttock and warned him that he had power of life and death over him. The executive assistant then repeated the same questions that the head of the National Intelligence Service had already asked. When he did not receive a reply, he ordered the agents to beat the complainant across the back with belts. Water bottles were also used to hit him in the face. He was hit again on the feet with ramrods, causing significant bleeding. Whe n he tried to stem the bleeding, the agents forced him to swallow his own blood. 2.7 Unable to walk, the complainant was dragged to another office. During the transfer, a Burundian National Police officer attempted to strangle the complainant, who was saved at the last second by an investigating police officer. The intelligence officers severely tortured the complainant again, including beatings on the shoulders with a belt and on the feet with a ramrod. He was also hit in the nose with a club and in the throat with a ramrod. Then an intelligence officer cut off a piece of the complainant’s earlobe with bicycle pliers and forced him to eat it. When the complainant refused, he was hit with the pliers on the right eye and genitalia. 2.8 When the deputy director general of the Burundian National Police and the Burundian National Police chief for West Region came into the office, they ordered that the complainant be handcuffed and put in the adjoining lavatory. The complainant remained there from 1 to 6 July 2010, handcuffed at all times. The lavatory measured 1.5m by 3m. The complainant had trouble finding a comfortable position because of the unbearable pain caused by the beatings, especially the open wound on his right buttock. During the five days that he was held in the lavatory at the National Intelligence Service premises, the complainant was deprived of water, food and medical care. He was forced to drink the toilet water in order to survive. The acts of torture continued during the detention: every night, intelligence officers beat him with clubs, belts and ramrods all over his body. In addition, the fear of their arrival prevented him from sleeping for the entire period. The complainant did not receive any family visits. His wife, who had been informed of his arrest by witnesses, went to the National Intelligence Service premises as early as 1 July but was not permitted to see her husband. 2.9 Notified of the complainant’s arrest, observers from the United Nations Office in Burundi went to the National Intelligence Service premises on 2 July 2010 and were informed that the complainant had been taken by other officers on a search. In fact, that day, the complainant had been taken to Lake Tanganyika. At one point during the journey, an intelligence officer told the complainant to say his last prayer before his execution, but he was returned to the National Intelligence Service premises three hours later, after the observers had left. 2.10 On 6 July 2010, the complainant was interrogated again by an investigat ing police officer about a plan to undermine the Government in which he had allegedly taken part. He was asked to sign a report of uncertain content, which the complainant resigned himself to signing out of exhaustion. The same day, he was taken to the public prosecution service along with the three hitchhikers and was brought before the investigating judge. He was held all day in the public prosecution service ’s cell, located in the basement of the building, and was not heard until the end of the afternoon. He was then informed that he was accused of plotting against the State. 2.11 At this initial hearing, the complainant reported to the judge the abuse he had suffered while detained at the National Intelligence Service premises and was able to show the visible traces thereof. On 6 July 2010 at around 8 p.m., the complainant was transferred to Mpimba, the central prison of Bujumbura. Having still not received any medical care, he was in a worrying condition. The complainant was held for 15 months at Mpimba prison. This extended period of detention in appalling conditions had adverse effects on his physical and mental health, despite the fact that he was 4/15 GE.15-16176