Ecuador judge orders investigation into alleged torture in prisons

An Ecuadorian judge has ordered the Ombudsman’s Office to investigate alleged acts of torture by the military in several prisons in the country.

The move comes under the state of emergency enacted by the government at the beginning of January to end a prison riot crisis. Constitutional Judge Manuel Peña, of the port city of Guayaquil, has also ordered that uninterrupted medical care be provided to the inmates, as reported by the Committee of Relatives for Justice in Prisons, the organization that presented a habeas corpus appeal on the situation in prisons.

Judge Peña, it said, has ordered “monitoring the mental health status of the detainees” and has asked the Ombudsman’s Office to investigate allegations of “acts of torture that have existed in the prisons of Ecuador.”

He has also urged “the Armed Forces to respect the law and frame their actions in respect for dignity,” and has indicated that the State penitentiary agency, must “provide mattresses, access to electricity, drinking water, food, toiletries and personal hygiene supplies directly” to the inmates for free, according to the Committee’s statement.

It added that the judge has declared “the State responsible for action and omission” in this case of violation of rights, since the military has apparently engaged in “actions that violated the personal integrity of people deprived of liberty by subjecting them to mistreatment that could presumably be torture.”