- 11 2. Torture and other forms of ill-treatment 12. As was the case in 2001, a considerable number of persons interviewed by the delegation in the course of the visit alleged they had been ill-treated by police officers. The alleged ill-treatment consisted mostly of kicks, punches and blows with batons or various other objects, often inflicted during questioning. Certain allegations also referred to the use of excessive force at the time of arrest. In some cases the ill-treatment alleged could be considered as amounting to torture. 13. In a number of cases, the delegation’s doctors found that the persons concerned displayed injuries which were consistent with their allegations of ill-treatment; for example, the CPT would like to refer to the following cases: At Athens Police Headquarters, one person alleged he was repeatedly beaten by police officers upon arrest and while in custody during the three days prior to the delegation’s visit, with kicks to the face and back of legs, punches to the stomach and blows with a stick to the back. A medical member of the delegation observed that he displayed inter alia a painful swelling (2 cm in diameter) on the left parietal part of the head; a blue-violet bruise on the right eyelids; a reddishpurple bruise under the left eye; two parallel linear bruises, reddish-purple in colour (6 cm x 1 cm) in the left lumbar region; two parallel linear bruises, reddish-purple in colour (6 cm x 1 cm) in the middle of the back; a large dark blue-violet bruise on the back of the right upper leg (15 cm x 10 cm); in the hollow behind the right knee the same lesion but smaller in size; a blue-violet bruise (10 cm x 7 cm) on the lower part of the underside of the left thigh, as well as in the hollow behind the left knee (5 cm x 3 cm). Another person alleged he was beaten three days prior to the delegation’s visit, on his legs, arms, back and head by four police officers, one of them in uniform, during interrogation with the handle of a broom and with batons, and that he had a plastic bag put over his head. An examination by a medical member of the delegation revealed a swelling (3 cm in diameter) on the back of the head; a violet-green bruise on the right eyelids; a dry linear laceration (1 cm long) surrounded by an abrasion on the outer part of the right eyebrow; a violet-green bruise with abrasion on the right cheek (in the region of the cheek-bone); a violet-green bruise (3 cm x 4 cm) in front of the right ear; several diffuse violet-green bruises (from 1 cm x 2 cm to 3 cm x 4 cm) on the back; diffuse linear abrasions on both arms and wrists; two parallel violet-green bruises (5 cm x 1 cm), on the underside of the right upper arm; a bruised area, violet-green in colour (10 cm x 8 cm), with two visible darker elongated traces inside, on the outer side of the upper right leg; similar bruises were visible on the left upper leg as well as both the right and left lower legs; both knees and lower legs had dry scrapes; in the outer-ear canal dry blood (he complained of earache, with a wind-like sound in his ear and an inability to hear). The condition of his right ear pointed to a rupture of the tympanic membrane, possibly caused by a severe blow to the ear.