E/CN.4/1990/17
page 21
Greece
66. On 15 February 1989 the Government of Greece addressed a letter to the
Special Rapporteur regarding a case transmitted to it on 28 July 1988 (see
E/CN.4/1989/15, para. 38). The Government affirmed that the person concerned
had been arrested in connection with drug dealing. On 9 October 1987 he
alleged to the magistrate in charge of the investigation that he had been
maltreated, and on 10 October 1987 he brought a lawsuit against the police
charging that he had been tortured while in custody. Based on that lawsuit,
the public prosecutor of Herakleion pressed criminal charges against an
unknown party. Thereafter the police initiated an official administrative
investigation, which had not yet been concluded.
67. On 14 November 1989 the Special Rapporteur addressed a letter to the
Government of Greece transmitting information concerning the case of
Yannis Bouranis, a 24-year-old car mechanic, who was allegedly punched, beaten
with a truncheon and given electric shocks to the genitals during the course
of a five-hour interrogation at Thessaloniki central police station on
14 August 1988. The information further indicated that a medical examination
which took place on 16 August 1988 and the subsequent report certified that
Bouranis had wounds all over his body, particularly bruises on his legs and
scratches on his back. It was also reported that on 24 August 1988, Public
Prosecutor Athanassios Smirlis had ordered an inquiry into these allegations.
No reports have been received regarding the results of any such inquiry.
68. On 8 December 1989 the Permanent Mission of Greece to the United Nations
Office at Geneva informed the Special Rapporteur that Mr. Bouranis had been
arrested by the Thessaloniki police on 14 August 1988 in flagrante delicto and
condemned to five months' imprisonment for burglary. After receiving the
allegations sent by the Special Rapporteur, the police had initiated an
official inquiry, which included, among other thing6, a medical examination of
Mr. Bouranis, but no clear evidence of maltreatment was established. As a
result the court had decided not to press charges against the policemen in
question.
Guatemala
69. On 26 April 1989 the Special Rapporteur sent an urgent message to the
Government of Guatemala about the case of Juan Carlos Tejeda Tortola, aged 32,
a former member of the Association of University Students, sentenced in 1983
to 35 years' imprisonment. According to the information received,
Mr. Tejeda Tortola who is in the Granja Penal in Pavon is reportedly being
tortured, not given sufficient food and only allowed to see his family for
10 minutes once a week. Approximately 100 other prisoners in the same gaol
where, apparently, there is neither light nor water, are in the same situation.
70. On 9 June 1989 the Government of Guatemala informed the
Special Rapporteur that the investigations conducted by the appropriate
authorities (the Deputy-Minister of the Interior, the Directorate-General of
the Prison System and the Administration of the Granja Penal in Pavon)
established that after the events of Sunday 26 March, the prison in Pavon was
occupied by forces of the National Police for security reasons and that the
Deputy Director subsequently assumed control. He confirmed that
Mr. Juan Carlos Tejeda Tortola has not been subjected to any ill-treatment,
and still less to harassment which might undermine his physical integrity.
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