A/HRC/45/CRP.11 group had been captured and was being questioned.1586 He also tweeted, “Whoever disrespects his weapons with infamous vices will be punished to the full extent of the law”.1587 Detention and Interrogation 874. On 21 January 2019, the families of the 24 arrested sergeants lost contact with them. They knew nothing of their fate or whereabouts for the next eight days.1588 In the case of Sergeant Bandres, his wife last heard from him in the early morning of 21 January. Family members searched in Fort Tiuna, DGCIM, SEBIN and courts, but were unable to obtain information. 875. The 24 sergeants were taken in DGCIM vehicles to Fort Tiuna, where they were received by CEOFANB commander Remigio Ceballos and the Army Commander General, General Jesús Suárez Chourio. They were then transported to the DGCIM Headquarters in Boleíta Norte.1589 876. Upon arrival in Boleíta, DGCIM officers tried to coerce Sergeant Bandres into recording a video accusing Juan Guaidó, Julio Borges and María Corina Machado of financing the uprising. When Sergeant Bandres refused, DGCIM officers stripped him naked, blindfolded him and isolated him in a dark room. They attached his arms to the ceiling with handcuffs and suspended him for two days, causing him to lose feeling in his arms and hands. 877. They hit him with a bat and kicked him, including in his testicles. They asphyxiated him with a bag, electrocuted him in different soft parts of his body including behind his ears and on his testicles. When Sergeant Bandres fainted from the electrocution, they poured water on his body and electrocuted him again. He lost control of his bowels and the officers forced him to eat his own waste. Sergeant Bandres was deprived of water and food throughout this time and was told that his wife and children had also been captured and were being tortured.1590 878. Sergeant Bandres was also subjected to sexual violence, including an attempted rape with a pickaxe handle.1591 According to his wife, “The torture was so unbearable that he was asking them to let him go to the bathroom hoping to find chlorine to drink and commit suicide”.1592 879. The other sergeants arrested with Sergeant Bandres were subjected to similar acts. The Mission examined the declarations they made to their legal representatives and the complaints filed to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, as well as public declarations made by their families and lawyers. 880. The sergeants were subjected to heavy beatings, asphyxiation including with bags filled with toxic gas, forced nudity, isolation in rooms with very low temperature and constant lighting, beating with rifles, bats and blunt objects, blindfolding for days and electrocution among others. “We were handcuffed back to back, for several days and nights. In order to eat we had to throw ourselves on the floor like dogs” explained one of the sergeants.1593 1586 1587 1588 1589 1590 1591 1592 1593 178 Press Release of the FANB, 21 January 2019, available at: http://www.mindefensa.gob.ve/mindefensa/2019/01/21/comunicado-de-la-fuerza-armada-nacionalbolivariana-13/ https://twitter.com/vladimirpadrino/status/1087330772242128901?s=20 Mission Interview with Sandra Hernández on 24 June 2020; YouTube Video, Sergio Novelli, Entrevista a Rossi de Goncalves, hermana del Sargento Luis Bandres Figueroa, GNB alzado en Cotiza, 22 January 2019, available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWCfQUkXmiM. Written Declaration of Luis Bandres on 17 February 2019 made from Ramo Verde prison shared by ForoPenal, on file with the Mission, and Mission Interview with Sandra Hernández in June 2020. Ibid. Ibid. Mission Interview with Sandra Hernández in June 2020. Documents C3DD21, C3DD22, C3DD24 on file with the Mission. See also YouTube Video, Vivo Play, Militares rebelados en Cotiza son torturados, 21 February 2019, available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaMjW4drfNw.