CCPR/C/86/992/2001
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15 June 1994, and released some time thereafter. The Committee also recalls that according to
the National Observatory for Human Rights, the author’s husband was “kidnapped” by an
unidentified military group, this according to information received from the security forces.
The Committee notes that the State party has not responded to the sufficiently detailed
allegations exposed by the author, nor submitted any evidence such as arrest warrants, release
papers, records of interrogation or detention.
9.4
The Committee has consistently maintained11 that the burden of proof cannot rest alone
on the author of the communication, especially considering that the author and the State party do
not always have equal access to the evidence and that frequently the State party alone has access
to the relevant information. It is implicit in article 4, paragraph 2, of the Optional Protocol that
the State party has the duty to investigate in good faith all allegations of violation of the
Covenant made against it and its authorities and to furnish to the Committee the information
available to it. In cases where the allegations are corroborated by evidence submitted by the
author and where further clarification of the cases depends on information exclusively in the
hands of the State party, the Committee may consider the author’s allegations as substantiated in
the absence of satisfactory evidence and explanation to the contrary submitted by the State party.
9.5
As to the alleged violation of article 9, paragraph 1, the evidence before the Committee
reveals that Mr. Saker was removed from his home by State agents. The State party has not
addressed the author’s claims that her husband’s arrest was made in the absence of a warrant. It
has failed to indicate the legal basis on which the author’s husband was subsequently transferred
to military custody. It has failed to document its assertion that he was subsequently released,
even less how he was released with conditions of safety. All these considerations lead the
Committee to conclude that the detention as a whole was arbitrary, nor has the State party
adduced evidence that the detention of Mr. Saker was not arbitrary or illegal. The Committee
concludes that, in the circumstances, there has been a violation of article 9, paragraph 1.12
9.6
As to the alleged violation of article 9, paragraph 3, the Committee recalls that the right
to be brought “promptly” before a judicial authority implies that delays must not exceed a few
days, and that incommunicado detention as such may violate article 9, paragraph 3.13 It takes
note of the author’s argument that her husband was held incommunicado for 33 days by the
judicial police before being transferred to the Territorial Centre on 3 July 1994, without any
possibility of access to a lawyer during that period. It concludes that the facts before it disclose a
violation of article 9, paragraph 3.
9.7
As to the alleged violation of article 9, paragraph 4, the Committee recalls that the
author’s husband had no access to counsel during his incommunicado detention, which
prevented him from challenging the lawfulness of his detention during that period. In the
absence of any pertinent information on this point from the State party, the Committee finds that
Mr. Saker’s right to judicial review of the lawfulness of his detention (art. 9, para. 4) has also
been violated.
9.8
The Committee notes that while not specifically invoked by the author, the
communication appears to raise issues under article 7 of the Covenant in relation to the author
and her husband. The Committee recognizes the degree of suffering involved in being held
indefinitely without contact with the outside world. In this context, the Committee recalls its
general comment No. 20 (44) on article 7 of the Covenant, which recommends that States parties