CAT/C/23/D/60/1996 page 11 8.3 The State party has submitted the following facts concerning the death of Faisal Baraket on a number of occasions. 8.4 On 11 October 1991 an anonymous telephone caller informed the National Guard station at Menzel Bouzelfa that there had been a road traffic accident on route 26 between Ghrabi and Grombalia. Police officers found the victim alive at the scene. He was taken to Nabeul regional hospital but died the same day. His identity remained a mystery for four days, until fingerprint identification on 15 October 1991 revealed him to be Faisal Baraket. The autopsy report found the cause of death to be acute respiratory insufficiency related to extensive pulmonary congestion. 8.5 Following referral of the case, the Public Prosecutor’s Office began a manslaughter investigation against X on 6 November 1991 in connection with the hit-and-run road traffic accident. On 30 March 1992, given the impossibility of identifying the culprit, the examining magistrate ordered the case to be closed until further notice. 8.6 On 15 October 1992 the Tunisian Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a letter to Amnesty International stating that “with regard to the case of Faisal Baraket ... the reopening of which had been requested by the ‘Driss Commission’ and your own organization, the Tunisian authorities have forwarded to the Public Prosecutor attached to the Court of First Instance at Grombalia the medical report which you transmitted to the Government”. The Public Prosecutor’s Office ordered the case to be reopened on 22 September 1992. 8.7 Pursuant to the examining magistrate’s decision to order a new expert medical opinion, three professors of forensic medicine including Dr. Ghachem were appointed to examine the content of the autopsy report and the conclusions put forward by Professor Pounder. Their report, a copy of which has been forwarded to the Committee, states that “the autopsy report fails to mention the presence of any traumatic lesion to the anus itself. Yet the forced introduction of a foreign body unavoidably leaves lesions in the area of the anus and sphincter. The autopsy report [...] refers to the presence of superficial lesions and a visceral lesion. None of the lesions described in the report permits the cause of injury to be accurately determined. The description of the lesions is very vague and incomplete and does not help to determine their origin. The conclusions reached by Professor Pounder cannot therefore be substantiated since they are not based on objective facts, the lesions referred to in the report being of a very imprecise nature”. Once again, the case was closed for lack of evidence. 8.8 Following the submission of communication No. 14/1994 to the Committee, the Public Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Court of First Instance at Grombalia ordered the case to be reopened. The examining magistrate immediately proceeded to examine the persons named by the author. Mr. Hedi Baraket stated that he did not know the author, nor had he ever met him; he also denied the allegations contained in the communication. A deposition to this effect was signed by Mr. Hedi Baraket and forwarded to the Committee. Three so-called witnesses who, according to the author, were purportedly present at the death of Faisal Baraket have denied knowing either the author or the alleged victim, and they further deny having witnessed scenes of torture. A fourth individual stated that he was bribed by the author. In exchange for a sum of money, he agreed to make a tape recording of a text prepared by the author. Finally, the general