A/HRC/13/66 had access to relevant documents, including medical reports, which are evidence of the seriousness of the complaints. 58. Some women’s organizations complained that they had been victims of harassment and threats via e-mails and phone calls from police and military officers, and acts of intimidation by the police, including monitoring and surveillance. 59. Ill-treatment of women by police and military officials was described by victims and witnesses as a common practice during demonstrations. In particular, many complaints referred to blows to the buttocks and chest areas, as well as of serious beatings resulting in broken bones in the leg or hand. The mission met with a physically disabled woman who was seriously injured in Tegucigalpa by police officers on 12 August, when she was on her way to get medication prescribed by a doctor. She had several bones broken and lost the sight in one eye. Another woman suffered from injuries inflicted by female police officers in Tegucigalpa. She was arrested in an area near the demonstrations, detained for four weeks, and later released on bail. She was accused of damaging property and sedition. The first charge was dismissed; however, sedition charges were not. Her complaints of injury and torture were reportedly not acted upon by the judge. A teacher and human rights defender, who had been provided with protection measures by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, was beaten by police agents during a demonstration in Tegucigalpa. She complained that she was subsequently the victim of harassment and other forms of intimidating behaviour by military officers, including through surveillance around her home and workplace. 60. Some female detainees reported that they were raped with truncheons, or subjected to multiple rapes by police agents. Others reported sexual harassment, particularly in Choloma and Tegucigalpa, and other forms of ill-treatment.22 In San Pedro Sula, the regional ombudsman’s office received a complaint from a pregnant woman who had been kicked and hit in the abdomen by police officers. The mission also received repeated information about women and children affected by the use of tear gas, which resulted in skin infections and other health problems. The mission did not receive any indication from the authorities regarding any follow-up to these particular complaints. 61. Victims of ill-treatment, torture and sexual abuse who decided to file official complaints reportedly received death threats and were intimidated by police and military officials. Although the Fiscalía granted them protected witness status, this only entails the confidentiality of their names and some precautionary measures, such as orders requesting defendants not to approach victims, but falls short of offering any other form of protection. Many victims decided not to take their complaints to the authorities out of fear or for lack of confidence in them. As a result, official records do not reflect the magnitude of the instances of violence against women. 62. Nineteen officials (12 women and 7 men) of the National Women’s Institute reportedly lost their jobs because of their position against the de facto Government and did not receive adequate compensation. The Technical Director herself was a victim of harassment and threats and also lost her job. 63. Many of the women interviewed referred to a step backwards in terms of public policies regarding gender equality and sexual and reproductive health. For instance, before the coup President Zelaya had imposed a veto on a bill prohibiting the use of the morningafter pill, authorized since 1992. At the time of the coup the bill was under examination by 22 14 A report prepared by women’s organizations for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in November 2009, referred to 23 cases of different forms of sexual harassment and at least 7 cases of rape. GE.10-11700