CAT/C/61/D/654/2015 measuring 3 by 3 metres, without a window, where there were already 17 inmates. The detainees took turns sleeping, without a bed or a blanket, for 10 days. They were unable to take a shower or to go for a walk, and they were entitled to only one piece of bread per day. Rached Jaïdane was retained in the cell for 30 days. 2.15 The complainant was again assaulted in 1996 to punish him for writing a letter to Ben Ali. Four officers tied him in the roast chicken position and beat his entire body, including his genitals and the soles of his feet (falaqa torture). The blows had serious aftereffects, including a problem in his right eye, which was not operated upon until five years later. His right arm and his nose were also broken and he received no immediate treatment. A fellow inmate produced a plaster composed of toothpaste and breadcrumbs to relieve his broken arm. 2.16 Rached Jaïdane did not see the 9 April Prison doctor until he went on hunger strike. The doctor visited him to dissuade him from continuing. He was hospitalized on several occasions during his detention: in 1996 for a mild heart attack; in 1997 on account of a hunger strike; and twice in 2001 for an operation on the eye that had been damaged by torture. 2.17 In the other prisons in which he was subsequently detained, Rached Jaïdane was once placed in solitary confinement for five months in Nadhor Prison and was repeatedly placed in an isolation cell. As in 9 April Prison, he had no bed or blanket during any period in the isolation cell, he ate only one piece of bread each day, and he was unable to take a shower or go for a walk. The cells were devoid of windows except for the isolation cell in Mahdia Prison. Each period in an isolation cell lasted for 7 to 15 days. All in all, he spent 7 days in an isolation cell in Nadhor Prison, about 40 days in Borj Erroumi Prison, 20 days in Mahdia Prison, 15 days in Monastir Prison and 10 days in Gabès Prison. One of the periods in an isolation cell during his first incarceration at Borj Erroumi Prison was preceded by a torture session similar to those to which he had been subjected before being placed in an isolation cell in 9 April Prison. Release and after-effects of the torture 2.18 Rached Jaïdane was released in February 2006 after 13 years of torture and illtreatment in Tunisian prisons. He continues to suffer severe physical and psychological after-effects of the torture, which have entailed a disability rate of 35 per cent. He suffers, among other after-effects, from an implosion of the right eye, a deviation of the nasal pyramid, buzzing in the ears, positional vertigo, multiple dental fractures, aggravation of a hernia and a varicocele, and post-traumatic neurosis (a medical assessment is attached). Rached Jaïdane is unable to father a child because of several of these pathologies. Measures taken to secure justice 2.19 On 3 June 2011, Rached Jaïdane filed a complaint of torture against several Ministry of the Interior officials and prison administration officers, and against the judge who convicted him at first instance. The investigating judge at the Court of First Instance in Tunis to whom the case was referred ordered a medical assessment, which was conducted on 4 October 2011. The forensic medical examiner assessed the rate of permanent disability resulting from the torture at 35 per cent. 2.20 The complainant stresses that the investigating judge failed to undertake a diligent investigation, since he did not seek to identify all the perpetrators of acts of torture and potential witnesses, nor did he endeavour to ascertain, for instance in the archives of the Ministry of the Interior, the exact role and prerogatives of each official employed at the time by the Ministry of the Interior and the State Security service. Furthermore, the judge decided to refer the case to the Correctional Chamber of the Court of First Instance in Tunis rather than to the Criminal Chamber. As the crime of torture did not exist in the Criminal Code at the material time, the investigating judge decided to prosecute the persons accused of the acts committed against Rached Jaïdane for the less serious offence of assault based on article 101 of the Criminal Code. 2.21 The trial opened before the Correctional Chamber of the Court of First Instance in Tunis in April 2012. Notwithstanding the requests of the victim’s lawyer, the Chamber GE.17-16785 5