well as slaps on both ears simultaneously with open hands, creating high pressure on the eardrums (telefono). After some time, which was impossible to estimate, I was forced to stand in a rigid position for a prolonged period (planton); if I moved I was beaten. During this entire time I was kept hooded in order to create a total sense of disorientation and insecurity.

To be hooded is more than a physical deprivation; it is to lose all sense of time, to not know if one is alone, being watched, safe or in danger, whether the sun shines day after day.

I was later taken to see a medical doctor who I subsuequently learned was Dr. Munoz Michelini, the doctor of the military unit of Infantry Battalion Number 1. During the course of the medical examination I remained hooded. At no time did the doctor examine the wounds which had been inflicted to my face. Given my broken ribs, the doctor indicated that I was in no condition to be "interrogated" anymore. When we left, Captain Tabare Camacho ordered me to resume a rigid, standing position and to remain hooded.

The next morning, that is ten hours later, the torture started once again. This time I received blows with contusive objects, and I was subjected for the first time to the "submarine". This torture method entailed near asphyxiation by means of submersion of the head and body into a vat of water filled with vomit and urine, during which time the interrogation continued. To respond to the questions I was asked by the interrogators would have meant the violation of professional discretion.

This "session" lasted a long period of time. The suffering was

particularly painful during this time as the pressure of my body leaning against the metal tank was acute due to my broken ribs.

The worst of all was the sensation of asphyxia. The handcuffs had been fitted tightly around my wrists so each time I resisted, the handcuffs created more pressure, seriously damaging my wrists. The pressure of the water on the blindfold allowed the bandage to loosen, and for several seconds I was able to see my torturers.

They were: the Commanding Officer, Lt. Cnel. Carlos Legnani; Captains Carlos Calcagno, Tabare Camacho, Lt. Grignoli and some soldiers. I know their names because I spent seven months in this unit.

The torture sessions continued for three days with only short periods of rest. During my entire period of detention I was never allowed to receive medical treatment of any kind, not even x-rays. I kept isolated in a small cell.

Some weeks later I was again tortured, since I refused to sign an incriminating statement that had been prepared by my torturers in my presence.

Due to the fact that my wife very courageously denounced my detention to the press and Members of Parliament, on another occasion I was taken to the torture site.

During this time I was threatened but not inflicted with physical torture. I was, however, informed that my wife would be tortured and physically and sexually abused in my presence. If necessary, they would bring my children.

At the time of my arrest, the military went to our home and to my

lawyer's office, and without a judicial warrant searched and confiscated documents and correspondence.

I was kept in this military unit for seven months, and during this period I and the two hundred detainees held there were subjected on three Occasions to collective torture. The first one lasted for three days.

Hooded and forced to stand up facing a wall, the officers would beat selected prisoners. During the night we were allowed to rest for some

hours and were given some food.

During this period of time some detainees died under torture. I was kept incommunicado for seven months, with no access to a lawyer, visits from relatives or allowed to speak to other prisoners despite the fact that the Constitution and

Uruguayan law only

authorize a maximum term of 24 hours incommunicado detention. After

that I was taken before a military judge, a Colonel, with no prior access to my lawyer. The Colonel, who had no legal training, accepted into evidence statements made by military officers against me and refused to incorporate into the proceedings denunciations of torture I had made. I shall not refer to life conditions in military units and later in the military prison, I shall only say that these conditions were inhuman, cruel, and degrading. I was detained for two years in all, during which time I was detained in the school for soldiers (Escuela Armas Y Servicios) and in the Infantry Batallion Number Two. I spent the final eight months in the infamous military prison of Libertad, officially known as the Establecimiento Militar de Reclusion No. 1.

The Libertad military prison is a very special place; one could talk for hours about the rigid system over control of family visits, medical care, fool, constant pressures from guards, and the elaborate system of sanctions and arbitrary punishments which is designed to destroy every aspect of the prisoner's life and personality.

During the entire course of my detention and after I was never sentenced. My indictment by the military tribunal could only be qualified as ridiculous, if it were not tragic. Despite the fact that

I was

a civilian I was tried by a military court, in clear violation

of article 253 of the Constitution, by military officers who had no judicial

training. They lack three essential

impartiality and judicial capability.

qualities to be judges: independence,

Ten years have passed since my release in 1974. Despite this, the situation in Uruguay today continues to demand international concern. Only a month ago in April, a medical doctor, Dr. Vladimir Roslik died under torture in a military barracks in Uruguay. own, is not an isolated one. On behalf of the Uruguayans who still live

His case,

like my

today under a military regime, I respectfully request that you

continue to monitor the situation in my country.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. YATRON. Thank you, Mr. Artucio. I know that it has been very difficult for you to be here and testify today.

Our next witness is Ms. Jeri Laber. Ms. Laber will you please go ahead with your statement. Welcome back once again.

STATEMENT OF JERI LABER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, HELSINKI WATCH

Ms. LABER. Thank you. You'll recall that I testified here in April of 1983 at some very important hearings about human rights in Turkey. I talked about various human rights abuses in Turkey, including torture, the subject of today's hearing.

Since I was here last year, I've had the opportunity to go to Turkey where I met and interviewed various people, including victims of torture in Turkey, and had some very heartbreaking interviews with the families of young people who have virtually disappeared within the prison system, including the father of one such young boy-now probably around 20-who himself was taken within the prison and tortured with electric shocks for 10 days, just by virtue of having gone to the prison gates to find out something about the condition of his son.

A lot has happened in Turkey since the November elections of last year. Turkey now has a parliamentary government and the elections themselves were an upset victory for the candidate that was least favored by the military regime. There are pressures that have been brought within the Parliament to investigate allegations of torture in Turkish prisons. The punishment of torturers has continued to some extent.

There is talk from numerous quarters about an amnesty for political prisoners. A delegation from the Council of Europe just last month was given permission to visit two notorious prisons in Turkey, Diyarbakir Prison and Mamak Prison, and the parliament itself has appointed a nine-person commission to investigate allegations of torture.

The results, however, have not, so far at least, led to any significant criticism of official policies. The commission's findings, for example, included the statement on the one hand that 80 security personnel had been jailed for up to several years for conducting torture and maltreatment since 1978, and, on the other hand, the fact that-and I quote-"there is no evidence of systematic maltreatment or torture in Turkish jails."

In addition, the evidence that continues to come both to Amnesty International and to our Helsinki Watch Committee indicates that torture continues unabated in Turkish detention centers and pris

ons.

I notice that when Mr. Healey spoke before he talked about the 45-day period of incommunicado detention in Turkey as being the longest or one of the longest in the world, and he pointed out that detention is the period during which prisoners are tortured. I just want to say that in Turkey it appears that torture doesn't stop with the period of detention but goes on in the prisons themselves. Amnesty has recently issued a bulletin, which I will quote from very briefly, saying that, "thousands of women and men detained in Turkey under martial law have been tortured systematically,