A/HRC/45/CRP.11 548. SEBIN officers took Ms. Chacón and Mr. Hinds to El Helicoide pending certification of bail. Defence counsel presented the required documentation to the tribunal on 7 February and 9 February 2018,1137 but tribunal staff did not complete the documentation and bail was not processed.1138 Ms. Chacón and Mr. Hinds were held for a further 112 days.1139 A lawyer told the Mission that beginning in 2017, confirmation of bail would generally be delayed for 30 days and for longer in political case. 1140 Detention in El Helicoide 549. Mr. Hinds was transferred the “La Escalera” cell in the stairwell, where he would remain for the following months.1141 This cell held people detained for both political and nonpolitical reasons. Each person slept on a stair. This cell was infested with rodents and insects. 550. SEBIN officers also used this cell to commit violence against the detainees. Mr. Hinds witnessed SEBIN officers handcuff detainees to the stair rail and beat them. Mr. Hinds witnessed this on no fewer than six occasions. On one occasion, he witnessed male guards severely beat three teenagers that he suspects were minors. Officers beat one of the teenagers so badly he feared he would lose an eye.1142 The officers were very careful about leaving marks on detainees in advance of court appearances, when they slapped detainees with open hands or covered sticks or bats with cloths to reduce the chance of causing visible injuries.1143 551. One SEBIN official preferred to beat detainees with a bat marked with numbers. He would throw the bat to a detainee, and wherever the detainee’s hands caught the bat, he would beat him that number of times, generally on the head, buttocks and torso. If the detainee resisted, the official would beat him in the face, eyes, and genitals. 1144 552. The detainees in the stairwell had placed a cup to catch dirty water that smelled of sewage leaking from one of the walls. Mr. Hinds witnessed a female guard force one of the political detainees to drink that water. The official appeared drunk at the time and smelled of alcohol.1145 553. Ms. Chacón was held in the sole cell for women, an overcrowded space with little access to water for drinking, cleaning or bathing. Some of the women told Ms. Chacón they had been detained in El Helicoide for up to four years, but only one had been sentenced. Almost all were awaiting their preliminary hearing.1146 554. Ms. Chacón told the Mission that the majority of the women in El Helicoide decribed being tortured during the first days of detention. According to the accounts she received, the most common practice involved hanging the women by their hands, blindfolding them and beating them all over their bodies, while calling them bitches and other insults. Others received electric shocks. Ms. Chacón was aware that at least one woman attempted suicide in El Helicoide.1147 555. Ms. Chacón and other witnesses heard officers heavily beating a group of women late one night, in the room above the women’s cell. This persisted for many hours. Later, officers brought the battered women to the cell. One was approximately 50 years old and another over the age of 60.1148 1137 1138 1139 1140 1141 1142 1143 1144 1145 1146 1147 1148 Folios 142 and 148, Criminal File; Interview C2EE06 and C2EE07 in May 2020. Complaint filed 12 March 2018, Criminal File 31oC-20.426-18, p. 3. Mr. Hinds and Ms. Chacón were released on 1 June 2018. Mission Interview with Geraldine Chacón on 13 May 2020; Mission Interview with Gregory Hinds on 19 May 2020. Mission Interview C2EE08 in May 2020. See section on El Helicoide above. Ibid. Mission Interview with Gregory Hinds on 19 May 2020. Ibid. Ibid. Mission Interview with Geraldine Chacón on 13 May 2020. Ibid. Mission Interview with Geraldine Chacón on 13 May 2020; Mission Interview C2EE03 in May 2020; Mission Interview C2EE09 in June 2020. 127