ELCI AND OTHERS v. TURKEY JUDGMENT 99 applicants on just one occasion. On a conservative estimate, if the applicants had each been interrogated three times for two hours each time, that should have generated 96 hours of recordings. The recordings were undated and did not show the four applicants who had refused to sign statements and confrontation records (Tahir Elçi, Niyazi Çem, Meral Daniş Beştaş and Arzu Sahin). Nor did they disclose the identity of the interrogator. The recorded statements were not reflected in the written statements attributed to these applicants. Any incriminating remarks which were recorded had either been dictated to them beforehand or were thrown out haphazardly to avoid ill-treatment. No questions were put to these six applicants about incriminating documents allegedly found on them, which lent weight to the applicants' submission that no such documents had ever been found and that the authorities purported search records had been fabricated. 625. In support of their claims of ill-treatment in custody, the applicants also relied on the ancillary evidence they had submitted, including reports of the European Commission of Human Rights, judgments of the Court, reports and decisions of United Nations institutions, and Amnesty International Reports. They also referred to the statements concerning Turkey of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, which found systematic ill-treatment being carried out in police custody, and they alleged that similar criticism could be levelled at the gendarmerie at that time, albeit to a lesser extent. They contended that this documentation could not be excluded by virtue of its non-judicial character. 2. The Government 626. The Government submitted that the applicants' allegations of torture were wholly unsubstantiated. Most of the evidence had been submitted by the applicants themselves, and lacked objectivity and independence. On the contrary, the video recordings of the applicants' interrogations showed that they had suffered no ill-treatment whatsoever. 627. As regards the other evidence, the Government noted that on 10 December 1993 Tahir Elçi, Sebahattin Acar, Niyazi Çem, Şinasi Tur, Meral Daniş Beştaş, Mesut Beştaş, Selim Kurbanoğlu, Vedat Erten and Hüsniye Ölmez were examined by a forensic doctor, Dr Eğilmez, who found no evidence of ill-treatment (paragraphs 284-293 and 547 above). 628. Meral Daniş Beştaş did not tell Dr Eğilmez that she was suffering from respiratory problems (cf. paragraphs 199 and 288 above). Moreover, even though she produced medical evidence of pneumonia for which rest had been recommended, she continued working after her release. Nor did Mrs Beştaş submit this medical evidence to the State Security Court. 629. All the applicants could have asked for a medical examination during their detention in gendarme custody. They could have denounced Dr Eğilmez for falsely reporting their medical condition before the Public Prosecutor. None of this was done.