A/HRC/13/39/Add.4 Appendix I Central Police Station - Malabo Visited on 11 November 2008 The following accounts are based on the Special Rapporteur's visit and on allegations by detainees he received during private interviews. As mentioned in the main report, the Special Rapporteur feels that he cannot exclude that there might be reprisals against individuals he interviewed during his mission. He has therefore decided to depart from usual practice and to publish only the names of the persons whose story is already known in the public domain. The names of all other detainees are kept confidential. If detainees requested total confidentiality, their allegations are not contained in the present appendix. General information: The Central Police Station is located in the centre of Malabo. The Special Rapporteur was received by Sebastian Belope (Commissario Alférez). The detention facility was divided in two wings, one with three small cells and another one with a large cell and a large courtyard. The Special Rapporteur was informed that the courtyard wing was reserved for illegal immigrants. However, several citizens of Equatorial Guinea were held there as well. Men and women were detained together, the large cell was completely overcrowded, and there were not enough beds for everybody. There were no toilets and detainees defecated in plastic bags and urinated in plastic bottles, which they then threw over the wall of the building. The Special Rapporteur received allegations that, at times, up to several hundred persons were detained in the courtyard. The police reportedly did not intervene in cases of interprisoner violence or to protect the women from harassment by male detainees. There was an internal disciplinary system allegedly run by Equatoguinean prisoners who occasionally beat foreign detainees and applied discriminatory practices against them. According to some allegations, the foreigners were moved into the closed cell over night and the persons held in the three small cells were brought in the courtyard for sleeping. The Special Rapporteur received consistent allegations of beatings, especially of minors. The foreign detainees did not receive any food or water. Although, according to the police, the three small cells (each of about 8 square meters) were reserved for Equatoguinean citizens, the Special Rapporteur found that many among the 18 detainees were foreigners, e.g. from Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad. Some of the detainees had already spent up to 26 days in police custody. The youngest was 15 years old. The Special Rapporteur was also told that some seven children between 10 and 11 years old had been held in one of the cells for three days, but had been released on the morning of the Special Rapporteur’s visit. Similarly, four women had allegedly been detained in the cell for four or five days and had just been released on that day. The three cells were in an appalling state. There were no beds or mattresses. The middle cell where 12 detainees were held was severely overcrowded, so that prisoners had to take turns to lay down on the floor and rest. The detainees were confined to their cells for 24 hours and were not allowed to leave the cell to shower, bath or even use the toilet. The toilet opposite the cell was surrounded by a wall and smelled horrible. The detainees had to urinate into plastic bottles, which were piled up in front of the cells and to defecate into plastic bags which they threw outside the cells. The detainees said they had not showered since their arrival. They had enough water, but complained that they were not provided with food. Food was provided exclusively by families. 22