E/CN.4/2000/9 page 15 and saw that he had been badly beaten. The treatment he received at a hospital was reportedly not recorded, to conceal the fact that he had been beaten. He reportedly underwent surgery in October 1995 for lesions on the soles of his feet caused by the severe beating he received, and he reportedly remained in the hospital until May 1996. His State-appointed lawyer reportedly refused to request a forensic medical examination. A forensic medical examination was, however, sought by a private lawyer on 20 December 1996 and reportedly denied by an investigator, who claimed that it was "irrelevant to the case". Eldar Agayev was reportedly eventually convicted of murder. 46. Vuquar Verdiyev was reportedly arrested on suspicion of murder on 29 April 1996 by police in Baku. He was reportedly taken to Gorotdel and then to the Department to Combat Organized Crime, where he was allegedly tied to a radiator and beaten. Hot and cold water was allegedly poured over his body. He is said to have confessed to the murder as a result of the torture. Thereafter, he was reportedly transferred to a prison in Ganja, where the torture allegedly continued. One of his shoulders and a hand were reportedly broken and metal nails were pushed under his toenails. It is believed that the abuse continued after he made a confession in order to coerce him into signing a testimony that he had an accomplice. 47. Bahram Sadoqov, a displaced person from the Lachin region, is reported to have died on 19 January 1999 in his cell at the Police Administration of Sumaqayit City, allegedly as a result of severe beatings by policemen. 48. Aleksandr Viktorovich Usenko, a Jehovah's Witness, was reportedly arrested by three officials from the Baku City Procurator's Office on 13 November 1997 after allegedly offering a bribe in exchange for the registration of his congregation as a religious community. He was reportedly taken to Investigation Isolation Prison No. 1, Bailov Prison, where he was allegedly beaten and verbally abused by an investigator. He was subsequently sentenced to three years' probation after being convicted of bribery. He reportedly lodged a complaint about his treatment with the Baku City Procurator. 49. Nazilya Veliyeva, Arif Babayev and Rovshah Nariman ogly Mursalov, members of the same congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, were reportedly called for interrogation and beaten around 16 November 1997. Rovshan Mursalov was allegedly beaten for refusing to sign a statement prepared by the police, and sought medical treatment for a burst eardrum sustained during the beatings. Eleven Jehovah's Witnesses have reportedly lodged complaints of ill-treatment with the Office of the Prosecutor. 50. Vusal Rasulov, aged 12, and his sister were reportedly detained by police in Mingechevir on 6 December 1997 in order to extract information about their mother, Sakhiba Rasulova, the head of the Mingechevir Branch of the nongovernmental Dilara Aliyeva Society for the Protection of Women's Rights, against whom the police had instigated criminal proceedings on the charge of swindling. Vusal Rasulov was allegedly physically abused by an investigator, the Chief District Inspector and the Deputy Procurator of Mingechevir during his detention on 6 December. The three men allegedly shut his fingers in a door and beat him on the soles of his feet. He was reportedly taken the same day by his family to a clinic. The doctors there initially confirmed the bodily injuries, but the relevant documents were reportedly destroyed by the doctors under pressure from law enforcement agencies. Vusal Rasulov was reportedly then taken to a hospital in the Kakh district, but on 9 December was allegedly abducted by