E/CN.4/1996/35/Add.2
page 9
28.
Other cases appear not even to have been motivated by a desire to make
the detainee incriminate himself, and the victims, who are not suspected of
any offence, were the first to be surprised at the abusive attitude and lack
of ethical principles on the part of the police. Such was the case of
Cecilia Maria Silva Codoy, a resident of Temuco, who called at the Las Quilas
Carabineros station on 6 November 1994 to complain at the nuisance caused by a
clandestine alcoholic beverage shop near her home. Reportedly, however, the
police did not allow her to file her complaint. Instead, they kicked and
punched her, beat her with their truncheons and made her undress. On
10 November she went to the San Juan de Dios hospital in Santiago, where
she was reportedly diagnosed as having bruises of the right lower eyelid, a
haematoma on the right side of her jaw, multiple abrasions on her left hand
and bruises on the outer side of her left arm. A complaint of torture was
filed with the Criminal Court in Temuco.
29.
Pablo Seguel Ramirez was allegedly severely beaten on 6 January 1995 when
he went up to a Carabineros van parked near El Quisco beach to report that he
had been robbed. He received a fractured jaw as a result of the attack.
30.
In another case, 16-year-old Hernán Alfonso San Martin Jerez and another
minor, Alex Alarcón, were arrested by Carabineros on 4 March 1995 in the town
of Renca. They were allegedly taken to Lo Velásquez substation, where they
were severely beaten, in particular with a strip of metal on their bare
torsos. When Hernán Alfonso San Martin’s mother, Maria Jeria Castillo, called
at the substation to ask about her son, she was reportedly also beaten and had
to be taken to the San Juan de Dios hospital first-aid post.
31.
People arrested for public drunkenness also appear to be frequently
ill-treated, even when they are not displaying any aggressiveness or causing
a nuisance. Jorge Bustamente Inostroza, for instance, was arrested for
drunkenness by Carabineros on 13 February 1995 while walking on O’Higgins
Avenue in Santiago. He was allegedly taken to the First Carabineros Station,
where he was kicked, punched and beaten with truncheons to the point of losing
consciousness. He was also allegedly slapped simultaneously on both ears.
On 15 February, after his release, he arrived at the University of Chile
hospital casualty station complaining of severe pain and was given an
emergency operation for "intestinal trauma". On 14 March 1995 he filed a
criminal complaint for torture with the First Criminal Court in Santiago.
32.
As for the situation in the prisons, various sources concur that there
are no incidents of torture but that the physical conditions in most of the
prisons are very inadequate. The Special Rapporteur did learn of some
incidents of ill-treatment that allegedly occurred in the maximum security
section of Santiago South Preventive Detention Centre and the women’s section
of San Miguel prison, although the prisoners in both establishments with whom
the Special Rapporteur spoke said that the treatment was generally decent.
Regarding the maximum security section, the Special Rapporteur, in the course
of a rapid inspection of the premises, noted that they were in a good state
physically but that the establishment was not conducive to protecting the
prisoners’ mental health. In the women’s section of San Miguel prison,
although the physical conditions were acceptable, the Special Rapporteur