E/CN.4/2000/16 page 18 infringements of the traffic regulations and subsequently declared that he had been subjected to racist treatment. The national police force had not intervened, as it had not been informed of the details of the incident. (f) Melilla 64. An Algerian national is beaten up, but the police fail to intervene (25 October 1997). The victim was asleep in the Red Cross premises when several police officers forced him down into the courtyard. There several individuals in civilian clothes were waiting for him; they beat him with iron bars, with the result that he had to be hospitalized. The police officers watched the scene and made no move. The Melilla Association for Human Rights has lodged a complaint against the individuals concerned. Government reply 65. On 22 October 1997 complaint No. 27,295 was lodged at the police station. In that complaint Mohammed Zenagis, an Algerian citizen, declared that he had been injured during an attack in the former Red Cross hospital in the city and mentioned that members of the local police had been present when the incident took place. Following that incident, preliminary inquiry 2.056/97 was assigned to investigating magistrate No. 2 in Melilla. The case was dropped on 28 October 1997. (g) Lérida 66. Three police officers beat up an African in the Barrio Antico (12 November 1997). Dennis J.N. lodged a complaint with the duty court against three police officers who had struck him after asking for his identity papers. According to the police, he had refused to show his papers and had resisted the officers, who had consequently had to overpower him. However, a woman who was present at the scene came before the court to denounce the aggression and confirmed the version of the victim. Government reply 67. On 11 November 1997 members of the national police forces from the provincial police headquarters in Lérida, in the performance of their duties, arrested Denis Noe Joukwe Njigang, a Cameroon national, born in Cameroon on 15 April 1972, the son of Valentin and Emiliane, residing at 4 Vía Sant Martí, fourth floor, and bearer of identity papers No. X-2039602-P, in the old quarter of Lérida on suspicion of “drug trafficking”. The violent reaction of the latter to the members of the police force present at the time of the arrest gave rise to an altercation, as a result of which the arrested person and one of the police officers present were injured. The latter fact was mentioned in the report established (No. 43,231), which was referred to investigating magistrate No. 7 in Lérida and which gave rise to the first formal conclusions of the investigation (No. 1207/97). 68. When the prisoner was remanded in custody he made a specific charge of ill-treatment against the police officers who arrested him. As a consequence, the officers concerned were summoned before the same judicial authority to make statements in the capacity of persons