CAT/C/53/D/514/2012 General told Maregaregare to give the complainant “the bread”, namely, a filthy stone placed in the mouth to stifle the victim’s cries. The officers held the complainant’s head still and forced his mouth open to put in the stone. At the same time, they gave him a blow to the spine with a hose. The complainant spat the stone out, so Maregaregare brought in a plastic bag full of excrement in which to put the stone. This prospect made the complainant admit to everything of which he was accused, and a series of questions were put to him to get him to admit to his involvement in the coup d’état, to all of which he answered in the affirmative. With that, the torture session finished and the complainant signed a statement attesting to his involvement in the alleged attempted coup d’état. The 3 hours of agony inflicted on the complainant during the torture session had been filmed by an intelligence officer, thereby compounding the humiliating and degrading nature of the physical suffering. 2.7 No longer able to stand, half unconscious and covered in blood, the complainant was put in one of the Intelligence Service cells adjoining the torture chambers, measuring 4 by 6 metres, in which 16 other detainees who had also been tortured were being held. The detainees slept side by side on the floor. At first, they were served disgusting food consisting of beans and rice crawling with insects. Once the complainant’s detention and that of other political figures was reported and the news got out, 1 he was allowed to receive food from his wife. There were no washing facilities in the cell. All the detainees had to use one toilet that was in an appalling state, which gave rise to serious health problems. They had to get their drinking water from a single outside tap. Conditions overall were very damp, a potential breeding ground for malaria mosquitoes. He received no treatment during this period and was unable to speak to a lawyer. He was detained in these conditions for a week. 2.8 On the evening of his arrest, 1 August 2006, the complainant had a visit from his wife and his lawyer, Mr. Isidore Rufyikiri, as a result of an error on the part of the warder, who did not know that visits were strictly prohibited. The duty officer went to get the applicant from his cell and hauled him to the main entrance of the Intelligence Service headquarters. The complainant’s wife was thus able to see the signs of torture and to alert the media and human rights organizations. 2.9 On 2 August 2006, Mr. Isidore Rufyikiri (now President of the Bar Association) wrote to the Administrator-General of the Intelligence Service expressing his concern about the health of one of his clients, who had been arrested at the same time as the complainant and also been subjected to torture, whereupon he was himself arrested and detained in a cell in the Intelligence Service. He was thus able to see for himself the complainant’s extremely worrying condition. Mr. Rufyikiri gives the following testimony: “He [Déogratias Niyonzima, the complainant] was arrested on 1 August 2006. On 3 August 2006, I joined him in the cells and could see him not far away through the window, moving with great difficulty because of the torture he had undergone; he could not stand by himself and always had to lean on a fellow prisoner in better shape … his body was weak from the blows with metal bars, his legs, feet and toes were terribly swollen and had fresh wounds in many places.” 2 2.10 The day after his arrest, 2 August 2006, the complainant was again interrogated about meetings to prepare the coup d’état in which he had allegedly been involved. He denied any involvement, and a witness was called to get him to confess. The witness, however, although he had testified against the complainant the day before, went back on his statements and said that the complainant had not attended any meetings to plan the coup d’état. The complainant was taken back to his cell. 1 2 4 The complainant does not give a date. Testimony of Mr. Isidore Rufyikiri placed on file (4 April 2012). GE.15-00394