CAT/C/61/D/654/2015 The definition of torture (article 1) 3.2 According to the complainant, the acts to which he was subjected constitute torture, within the meaning of article 1 of the Convention. Rached Jaïdane was undoubtedly subjected to extremely severe abuse that caused acute suffering and was subjected to numerous acts of torture, both at the Ministry of the Interior and during his 13 years of imprisonment (see paras. 2.3 ff. for the period of custody and paras. 2.13 ff. for the torture inflicted during post-conviction detention). He continues to suffer severe physical and psychological after-effects of the torture to which he was subjected. 3.3 The intention of Rached Jaïdane’s torturers to subject him to acute suffering is obvious. The coordinated nature of the torture inflicted on the persons concerned unambiguously reveals that the torturers took deliberate action with the aim of obtaining confessions. The abuse inflicted on Rached Jaïdane in prison was designed to punish him for claiming his rights. The acts of torture were undoubtedly inflicted by State officials (the State Security service at the Ministry of the Interior, with the complicity of the then Minister of the Interior and the Director of National Security in the same Ministry). According to the complainant, the two investigating judges who saw the victim during the month following his detention and refrained from reporting the facts were also accomplices. The torture inflicted in prison was carried out by prison administration officers and managers, who were probably operating with the consent of the prison directors and deputy directors. 3.4 The complainant adds that he was held incommunicado during his 37 days of detention in the Ministry of the Interior in 1993, which also constitutes a violation of article 1.7 His family was not notified of his custody, let alone of his place of detention. The Ministry of the Interior was not — and is still not — an official place of detention. 3.5 The complainant was subjected to conditions of detention constituting torture, as described above in paragraph 2.11 and following paragraphs. 8 Effective measures to prevent acts of torture (article 2 (1)) 3.6 According to the complainant, a number of procedural safeguards applicable to all cases of deprivation of liberty were not respected. He remained incommunicado in the Ministry of the Interior from 30 July to 4 September 1993, the date of his first appearance before an investigating judge, that is to say for 37 days. His custody thus lasted for much longer than the maximum period authorized by law at the time. Moreover, his family was not notified of his detention at the Ministry of the Interior and he did not have access to a doctor, in violation of the Code of Criminal Procedure. In addition, he did not receive the assistance of a lawyer because persons in police custody are not guaranteed the right to legal aid under Tunisian law. Rached Jaïdane was thus arbitrarily detained in the Ministry. After appearing before a first investigating judge on 4 September 1993 and before the 9 April Prison administration on the same day, with visible traces of torture, he was returned to the Ministry of the Interior on 20 September and was compelled to sign records under threat of further torture. His pretrial detention continued for nearly three years, which constitutes an unreasonable delay. The Tunisian authorities therefore repeatedly violated article 2 (1) of the Convention. 3.7 The complainant adds that torture was not criminalized under the Tunisian legal system at the material time and that it was not until 1999 that the Criminal Code incorporated the crime of torture. He adds that the definition of torture is not in conformity with the Convention. Article 101 bis, which was introduced into the Tunisian Criminal Code in 1999, was amended after the revolution by Legislative Decree 106 of 22 October 7 8 GE.17-16785 Communication No. 402/2009, Abdelmalek v. Algeria, decision adopted on 23 May 2014, paras. 11.3 and 11.4. Referring, in particular, to a shadow report submitted by the International Federation for Human Rights in connection with the consideration of the second periodic report of Tunisia in 1998, the complainant underscores that, at the time of his imprisonment, deprivation of care, incommunicado detention, and placement in isolation cells under unhealthy conditions were commonplace, especially in the case of political prisoners. Several prisoners died in custody because of lack of care. 7