A/HRC/42/18 28. According to press releases issued by the Ministry of the Interior, between 27 February and 11 June 2019 the Government released 492 people (452 men and 40 women) who had been detained in the context of the 2018 protests. 31 Of these, 106 people (100 men and 6 women) were released under the Amnesty Law, adopted on 8 June 2019, and 386 (352 men and 34 women) were initially placed under house arrest and then granted amnesty following the entry into force of the Law. 29. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) helped to reconcile different lists of persons detained in the context of the protests provided by the Government and civil society organizations. It also participated, as an observer, in the release of 256 people. 32 On 18 June 2019, the Government announced that it had released all the people deprived of their liberty in the context of the protests. Civil society organizations refuted this claim and indicated that, as of 28 July 2019, 118 men and 2 women remained deprived of their liberty, including two individuals who had been released previously under the Amnesty Law. 33 VI. Rights to freedom from torture and to humane conditions of detention 30. OHCHR has reasonable grounds to believe that, after August 2018, a considerable number of women and men deprived of their liberty in the context of the protests and then facing criminal charges were subjected to torture and/or ill-treatment, both physical and psychological, including beatings, unlawful body searches, death threats and threats against their family. OHCHR also documented cases of sexual and gender-based violence against women, including inappropriate touching and rape threats. 31. Police and prison staff allegedly perpetrated torture and ill-treatment while arresting individuals perceived as political opponents, or during their detention at police stations and at the detention centre in Managua known as El Chipote. OHCHR documented the cases of several persons detained in El Chipote who were taken out of their cells at night, including several times a night, to be interrogated and, in numerous cases, beaten and threatened. In November 2018, seven special procedure mandate holders issued a press release expressing concern about allegations of torture and ill-treatment of detainees.34 32. Since December 2018, OHCHR has documented seven occasions on which groups of women and men arrested in the context of the protests and detained at La Modelo prison and in the prison for women known as La Esperanza, both located in Tipitapa, were beaten by prison staff and police officers and subjected to prohibited forms of punishment. This included collective punishments in the form of beatings with batons, use of pepper spray on men’s genitals and arbitrary confiscation of women’s personal belongings. On 16 May 2019, amid protests inside La Modelo, a police officer shot an inmate, causing his death, while at least 11 other male detainees and 6 police officers were injured. According to the Government, the detainee was trying to take away a correctional officer’s weapon when he was shot; however, OHCHR collected corroborating accounts indicating that the victim was shot from a distance of approximately 4 metres. 33. Although Law 473 on the penitentiary regime and execution of the sentence does not explicitly authorize and regulate intrusive searches, the majority of the men and women deprived of liberty in the context of the protests interviewed by OHCHR indicated they were subjected to unjustified and degrading visual inspection of their body cavities during routine strip searches. They would undergo such searches almost every time they left their cells, in front of same-sex detainees and staff who sometimes verbally mocked them. 31 32 33 34 8 During that period, the Ministry of the Interior issued eight press releases, available at www.migob.gob.ni/noticias/. ICRC, press statements, 21 and 30 May and 10 and 11 June 2019, available at www.icrc.org/es/where-we-work/americas/nicaragua. Civic Alliance, press release, 29 July 2019, available at www.alianzacivicanicaragua.com/informe-ylistas-de-personas-presas-politicas-y-desaparecidas-al-28-de-julio-de-2019/. See www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=23919&LangID=E.