CCPR/C/79/D/910/2000 Page 5 register of receipts; this procedure is in the interest of passport-holders because it is intended to prevent documents from being delivered to a person other than the passport-holder. 4.4 The State party contends that no legal or administrative body has received a claim for compensation for injury suffered by Mr. Ati Randolph. The author’s comments on the observations of the State party 5.1 In his comments of 22 August 2000, the author accuses Togo of having presented “a tissue of lies”. He reaffirms the facts as already submitted and insists that he was detained in police custody from 14 to 25 September 1985, while the legally permissible length of such confinement is a maximum of 48 hours. During that period, the author was subjected to cruel, degrading and inhuman treatment, torture and death threats. In his view, the presumption of his innocence was not respected - he was removed from the civil service list, and he was called to appear before the head of State and of the Central Committee of the only political party, the one in power. His eyeglasses had been confiscated for three months and had been returned to him only after the intervention of Amnesty International. The author’s vehicles had also been confiscated. He claims, in that regard, that one of the vehicles, which was returned to him upon his release, had been tampered with so that he could have died when trying to drive it. Lastly, he comments on various government officials in order to illustrate the undemocratic nature of the current regime, although this is not directly related to his communication. 5.2 From 25 September 1985 to 12 January 1987, the author was detained in the Lomé detention centre, where he was subjected to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and death threats. In a statement addressed to the Committee, the author’s sister testifies that, in that connection, and under pressure from international humanitarian organizations, the regime was forced to have the prisoner examined by a doctor. Ms. Randolph claims that the lawyers and doctors chosen were loyal to the regime and did not acknowledge that the results indicating there had been no torture - had been falsified. 5.3 The author’s trial began only in July 1986. On 30 July 1986, the author was sentenced to five years in prison for insulting the head of State. On 12 January 1987, he was pardoned by the latter. 5.4 Mr. Randolph insists that he was tortured by electric shock on 15 September 1985 in the evening and on the following morning. He claims that he was then threatened with death on several occasions. He states that he told his lawyers about this, and that he lodged complaints of torture with the court on two occasions: once in October 1985, but his complaint had been diluted by replacing “torture” by “ill-treatment”. The second time, in January 1986, he lodged his complaint in writing. In response to this action, the author claims, his right to a weekly family visit was suspended. The author also states that during the trial he had reported the torture and ill-treatment. This had been the reason, according to him, for the postponement of his trial from 16 to 30 July, supposedly for further information; he does not, however, offer any proof of these allegations. 5.5 The author also describes the conditions of his detention, for example, being forced to stay virtually naked in a mosquito-filled room, lying directly on the concrete, with the