CCPR/C/79/D/910/2000 Page 6 possibility of showering every two weeks at the start and spending only three minutes a day outside his cell, and having to shower in the prison courtyard under armed guard. 5.6 As for the trial, the author states that the President of the court - Ms. Nana - had close ties to the head of State. She had even participated in a demonstration demanding the execution of the author and the others charged in the case, and the confiscation of their property. Only the Association of African Jurists, represented by a friend of the head of State, had been authorized to attend the trial, while a representative of Amnesty International had been turned away at the airport. 5.7 The author maintains that no incriminating evidence or witnesses had been produced during the course of the trial. The case involved the distribution of leaflets to defame the head of State. Yet, according to the author, no leaflet was submitted in evidence and the head of State had not entered a defamation complaint. 5.8 The author claims that during the trial his attorneys had demonstrated that his rights had been violated. He states that he himself had shown the court the still-visible scars from having been burnt with electricity. But in his view the attorneys were under pressure and had therefore not pursued that argument. 5.9 Regarding his brother, the author contests the State party’s observations, stating that his diplomatic passport had not been extended but that it had taken nine months to issue a new ordinary passport. The State party’s further observations on the author’s comments 6.1 In its note of 27 November 2000, the State party contests the admissibility of the communication. It requests the Committee to declare the communication inadmissible for three reasons: failure to exhaust domestic remedies, use of insulting and defamatory terms and examination of the case by an international instance. 6.2 The State party contends that in Togo any person considering himself or herself to be the victim of human rights violations can have recourse to the courts, to the National Human Rights Commission and to the non-governmental institutions for the defence of human rights. In that connection, the State party states that the author did not submit an appeal to the courts, did not ask for a review of his trial and did not claim compensation for damage of any kind. As for the possible recourse to the National Human Rights Commission, the State party states that the author had not applied to it even though he acknowledged the Commission’s importance in his communication. 6.3 The State party insists, without further elaboration, that the author used insulting and defamatory terms in framing his allegations. 6.4 Concerning examination of the case under another international procedure, the State party submits that the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, in its resolution 1993/75 of 10 March 1993, had decided to monitor the situation of human rights in Togo, which it did until 1996. The State party points out that the author’s case was among those considered by the Commission on Human Rights during the period of monitoring.