- 12 2. Ill-treatment 11. A considerable number of persons interviewed by the delegation in the course of the visit alleged that they had been ill-treated by law enforcement officials. The allegations concerned in the main the police; however, certain of them related to Coast Guard officials. The ill-treatment alleged consisted mostly of kicks and blows with hands, fists, batons or various other objects, often inflicted during questioning. Certain allegations also involved the use of excessive force at the time of arrest, or ill-treatment of prisoners during transfers. 12. Many of the allegations related to periods some time before the CPT’s visit; consequently, any marks which might have been caused by the types of ill-treatment alleged would almost certainly have healed in the meantime. However, in a few cases, the delegation’s doctors found that the persons concerned bore marks which were consistent with their allegations of ill-treatment. The CPT would like to make particular reference to the following cases. At Khania Police Headquarters, one person claimed that, four days earlier, several police officers had beaten him (blows with hands, fists and batons to various parts of the body) at the time of arrest and during questioning on police premises. A medical member of the delegation observed that he displayed a deep bluish-red 10 x 15 cm haematoma on the right buttock; a 3 x 5 cm haematoma on the right thigh and posterior of the right knee; a 2 x 2 cm excoriation on the right elbow; a purple 3 x 6 cm haematoma on the upper right side of the abdomen; and a sub orbital haematoma of the left eye, as well as blood injection on the sclera of that eye. At Igoumenitsa Police Headquarters, the delegation interviewed two persons in custody. One of them claimed that the police officers who had arrested him the previous day had slapped him on the face. Further, he alleged that, during subsequent questioning in an office at the police headquarters, several officers had struck him on the back and on the legs with batons/truncheons. An examination by a medical member of the delegation revealed several 1.5 cm x 14.5 cm haematomas on the back, around the left shoulder region; he also displayed two dark blue 2 x 7 cm parallel haematomas on the upper left leg, separated by a 2.5 cm reddish-blue area; and a 1.8 x 3.2 cm haematoma on the external side of the upper right leg. The other detainee stated that, also during questioning, police officers had struck him on the legs using batons and threatened him with beatings on the soles of the feet (falaka). Upon medical examination by one of the delegation’s doctors, he was found to display a 2 x 6 cm haematoma, dark blue along the sides with a reddish central area, on the external side of the upper left leg. At the Piraeus Port Police Station, the delegation interviewed one person who alleged that, at the time of his arrest three days earlier, a Coast Guard officer had kicked him in the back and thrown him to the ground; he also claimed that, subsequently, while being interrogated at the police station, Coast Guard officers had struck him on the face and kicked him below the ribs. Further, he complained that access to a doctor in order to be treated for withdrawal symptoms had been deliberately delayed, while pressure was brought to bear on him to provide information to the police. Upon examination by a medical member of the delegation, he was found to display a blue 1 x 2 cm haematoma in the left sub-orbital region; a bluish 3 x 4 cm excoriation on the left side of the back, below the ribs; pain upon palpation and numbness in the right side of the chest and below the ribs in the right side of the back.