A/HRC/26/52 Républicaines de Côte d’Ivoire in Washington shantytown in the Cocody district of Abidjan. 2. Torture 22. The Independent Expert was informed of acts of torture committed in various detention centres, including beatings and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, at the hands of members of the National Surveillance Directorate, the Operational Decisions Coordination Centre and the Forces Républicaines de Côte d’Ivoire. 23. On 1 January 2014, officers of the Forces Républicaines de Côte d’Ivoire broke into a man’s home in San Pédro, arrested him and brutally beat the other four occupants of the house, including a woman. The officers were arrested and released on 95,000 CFA francs bail. Cases of ill-treatment by officers of the Forces, including extortion and death threats, were also reported in the area of San Pédro on 14 January. Some detainees arrested in February for breach of State security and held at the short-stay prison and correctional facility in Abidjan were allegedly beaten in the course of their arrest and during their stay at the Forces camp in Grabo. The Human Rights Division of UNOCI observed that 15 of them had severe injuries. 3. Situation of detainees 24. The Independent Expert welcomes the country’s efforts to regularize the legal situation of certain detainees. Over 1,000 prisoners were released under the presidential pardon of August 2013. Several detainees close to former President Laurent Gbagbo, who were imprisoned at the headquarters of the fourth infantry battalion of Korhogo (formerly the Compagnie territoriale de Korhogo), were transferred to either the military short-stay prison or the short-stay prison and correctional facility in Abidjan.3 25. Nevertheless, the Independent Expert remains concerned by the situation at the short-stay prison and correctional facility in Abidjan, where banned objects and products, such as knives, drugs and alcohol, can apparently be procured. In February 2014, during a routine check by the country’s various security forces, a mutiny broke out, resulting in the deaths of two inmates. 26. He wishes to express once again his grave concern for the persons detained by the National Surveillance Directorate, sometimes in private buildings. He recalls that incommunicado detention is incompatible with a democratic society governed by the rule of law and that any prolonged detention by the Directorate that exceeds statutory limits is unlawful and arbitrary. He also learned that in some cases, despite a duly signed judicial authorization, Directorate agents decide on a discretionary basis whether or not to authorize visits. 27. The Independent Expert is concerned at the situation of some 147 minors being held in the same buildings as adults at the short-stay prison and correctional facility in Abidjan, in flagrant violation of the relevant international norms. He is further concerned that a certain number of people, including Simon Pierre Ehivet and Captain Antoine Kangbe, whom he met at the facility, remain in detention. 28. On 14 February 2014, Michel Gbagbo was banned from leaving the country; the Independent Expert has taken note of the diverging views expressed by the parties in this regard. The prosecution service justified the measure, stating that the defendant, having chosen his domicile4 upon his release pending trial, required prior judicial authorization for 3 4 GE.14-02949 Ten of them have been tried and acquitted by the Abidjan Military Court. In accordance with article 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. 7