CAT/C/55/D/522/2012 recounted in this communication, he has not practised for the police. He is married, has two children and is responsible for three of his brother ’s children. 2.2 At the time of the events, in July 2010, when Burundi was in serious electoral crisis, the complainant was a member of the executive committee of the opposition party, the Union pour la paix et le développement, and the executive secretary of the Union’s youth branch at the national level. The complainant enjoyed a degree of renown owing to his position as a senior member of the Union and the fact that he had spoken regularly in public on behalf of his party during the presidential election. 2.3 On 1 July 2010, around 5.30 p.m., the complainant was driving to downtown Bujumbura. At the premises of the National Liberation Forces party, located in North Mutanga, he picked up four hitchhikers who wished to go downtown. When the complainant stopped for gas, two vehicles pulled up to either end of his car, preventing him from leaving. As a former member of the Burundian National Police, he quickly identified the vehicles as belonging to the National Intelligence Service. Six officers stepped out of the vehicles. They fired several shots in the air to intimidate the complainant and his passengers. The passengers managed to flee, but three of them were caught and forced to get into the Nati onal Intelligence Service vehicle. The complainant had a pistol put to his head and was also forced into the vehicle. At no time did the officers notify him of the reasons for his arrest nor show him an arrest warrant. 2.4 During the ride to the offices of the National Intelligence Service, the complainant was hit many times by the two officers next to him, including with the butt of a gun. His glasses were broken in the beating and his personal effects were also taken away. When he arrived at the offices of the National Intelligence Service around 6 p.m., the complainant was forced to remove his shoes and sit on the ground in the courtyard next to the three hitchhikers. The complainant then suddenly saw one of the hitchhikers fall over after being hit by a stone thrown by one of the National Intelligence Service officers. A few seconds later, the complainant was himself hit by a stone thrown by the same officer, so hard that he lost consciousness. While he was unconscious, he was taken to the office of the head of the National Intelligence Service, who spat in his face, after which he regained consciousness. 2.5 The interrogation, which began at 6 p.m. and lasted till approximately midnight, was primarily led by the head of the National Intelligence Service. The complainant was interrogated about grenade attacks allegedly carried out by members of the Union pour la paix et le développement and the National Liberation Forces, the links between these two groups, the weapons at the disposal of the National Liber ation Forces and other topics. During the interrogation, the complainant was tortured by officers of both the National Intelligence Service and the Burundian National Police, at the behest of the head of the National Intelligence Service and in his presenc e, as well as that of the executive assistant of the National Intelligence Service, the deputy director general of the Burundian National Police and the Burundian National Police chief for the West Region. 2.6 The head of the National Intelligence Service began by ordering the complainant to lie on his stomach while an intelligence officer undressed him. Once the complainant was naked, the intelligence officer spread sand across his back so that it would penetrate the wounds to be inflicted on him and heighten the pain. Two intelligence officers then immobilized the complainant and beat his feet repeatedly with clubs and ramrods. The intensity of the beating was such as to cause serious bruising and swelling, preventing the complainant from being able to wal k. To compound the humiliation, the intelligence officers attempted to force a rock into the complainant’s mouth to stifle his screams. The executive assistant then ordered him to stand up. Unable to do so, he was forcibly lifted. The executive assistant t hen put his GE.15-16176 3/15