CAT/C/53/D/514/2012
and the Special Rapporteur on the question of torture in 2006. However, the Committee
observes, firstly. that the mandate of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention concerns,
ratione materiae, the issue of arbitrary deprivation of liberty and not torture. With regard to
the consideration of the case by the Special Rapporteur on the question of torture, the
Committee recalls that extra-conventional procedures or mechanisms established by the
Commission on Human Rights or the Human Rights Council, whose mandates are to
examine and report publicly on human rights situations in specific countries or territories or
on cases of widespread human rights violations worldwide, do not constitute procedures of
international investigation or settlement within the meaning of article 22, paragraph 5 (a),
of the Convention. 19 Accordingly, the Committee considers that the examination of
Déogratias Niyonzima’s case by these procedures does not render the communication
inadmissible under this provision.
7.2
Secondly, the Committee observes that the State party challenges the admissibility
of the communication on the grounds that the complainant has failed to exhaust domestic
remedies, since a criminal proceeding for torture, brought on 17 August 2006, is still
pending following the referral of the case to the Attorney General’s Office. The Committee
notes that the State party has indicated that an investigating judge has been assigned to the
case, but it has provided no other information or detail which might help the Committee to
ascertain what progress has been made and to judge how effective the investigation might
be, despite the fact that the case was brought more than eight years ago. The Committee
finds that, in the circumstances, the inaction of the competent authorities has made it
unlikely that any remedy that might provide effective reparation can be initiated and that, in
any event, the domestic proceedings have been unreasonably lengthy. Accordingly, the
Committee considers that it is not precluded from considering the communication under
article 22, paragraph 5 (b), of the Convention.
7.3
In the absence of any impediment to admissibility, the Committee proceeds to
consideration of the merits of the claims submitted by the complainant under articles 1, 2
(para. 1), 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 of the Convention.
Consideration of the merits
8.1
The Committee has examined the complaint in the light of all information made
available to it by the parties, in accordance with article 22, paragraph 4, of the Convention.
8.2
The Committee notes the complainant’s claim that, on 1 August 2006, he was
arrested by some 20 armed police, who did not produce an arrest warrant, and was taken to
the headquarters of the National Intelligence Service. There, he was questioned under threat
that he might be subjected to considerable pain. The Committee has further noted the
complainant’s allegations that, after he denied any involvement in an alleged coup d’état,
Intelligence Service officials armed with various instruments of torture beat him until he
was bleeding profusely and on the verge of unconsciousness; that they put a stone in his
mouth to stifle his cries; that on the evening of his arrest, his wife and his lawyer were able
to visit him and noted visible signs of torture; that a Minister of the State party’s
Government stated that she had personally seen that the prisoners at Intelligence Service
headquarters showed signs of torture during her visit on 3 August 2006; that, despite his
requests, the complainant received no medical treatment during his week-long detention at
Intelligence Service headquarters; and that the beating he received caused acute pain and
suffering and was administered intentionally with the aim of extracting a confession. The
Committee notes that the State party does not dispute the facts as presented by the
complainant. In the circumstances, the Committee concludes that the complainant’s
19
12
See communication No. 376/2009, Bendib v. Algeria, decision adopted on 8 November 2013, para.
5.1.
GE.15-00394