CAT/C/72/D/992/2020 Even today, despite having been acquitted after having spent more than five years in detention, the media continue to make him out to be a criminal and many press releases and articles linking him to the alleged crimes for which he was prosecuted continue to circulate. 2.8 On 20 May 2013, a doctor attached to the Counsel General’s Office again examined Mr. Gallardo Martínez, noting “the presence of pain upon applying pressure to the posterior cervical region” and diagnosing “post-traumatic cervical pain and post-traumatic lower-back pain”. 2.9 Mr. Gallardo Martínez was only able to appoint a private lawyer on 21 May 2013. Thanks to his lawyer’s intervention, he was able to expand his statement and, in so doing, reject the ministerial statement submitted on 19 May 2013 on the grounds that it had been made under torture. 2.10 On 22 May 2013, based on his alleged self-incriminating confessions, he was formally indicted for the offences of involvement in organized crime and the kidnapping of two minors, nephews of one of the most important businesspeople in Mexico and close to former President Enrique Peña Nieto, and was transferred to Puente Grande maximum security prison in Guadalajara, Jalisco. It was in criminal case No. 136/2013 before the Sixth Criminal Court of El Salto, Jalisco, that the Federal Prosecution Service finally requested the dismissal of the case at the investigation stage, which had lasted for more than five years. 2.11 However, from 22 May 2013 to 28 December 2018, Mr. Gallardo Martínez remained in detention at the maximum security prison in Jalisco. During all those years, his relatives could not easily visit him. As indigenous persons with limited means at their disposal, they had difficulty in travelling to the detention centre because it was located at the other end of the country, thousands of kilometres away. Moreover, when they did manage to make the journey, they were often discriminated against and prevented from entering the centre. 2.12 On 22 May 2013, Mr. Gallardo Martínez also underwent a third medical examination by personnel attached to the Counsel General’s Office, who noted that he was experiencing “pain in the cervical and dorsal region without any sign of external injury, greeny purple ecchymosis measuring 3 cm by 1.5 cm on the anterior face of the proximal third of the left arm; reddish ecchymosis measuring 6 cm by 3 cm on the dorsum of the right foot, accompanied by a discrete increase in volume” and “dermoepidermal excoriations on the left arm”. 2.13 Until the day of his release following the dismissal of the criminal proceedings finally requested by the Public Prosecution Service – 5 years, 7 months and 10 days after his arrest – Mr. Gallardo Martínez was subjected to acts of torture. Since his admission to the maximum security prison on 22 May 2013, he was beaten on his back, kicked in the buttocks and screamed at in his ear, subjected to a body cavity search (oral and anal) while completely naked and had his hair shaved off. In the days that followed, the fleshy growth in both of his eyes worsened; this had a particularly serious impact on his eyesight that necessitated immediate surgery to avoid irreparable damage to his sight. Mr. Gallardo Martínez repeatedly requested the prison authorities to provide him with specialized medical care. When he did not receive an answer, he asked the judge to intervene and request that an ophthalmologist be allowed to visit him, a visit which was never authorized. Given the seriousness of the medical condition, Mr. Gallardo Martínez was finally operated on in the prison on 20 June 2017, by a prison doctor. Since he was refused the necessary post-operative care, he had to undergo surgery again in 2018. In general terms, during his time in detention, Mr. Gallardo Martínez was forced to live in overcrowded conditions (six inmates in an area measuring 2 m by 4 m), placed in solitary confinement, deprived of sleep and confined to his cell for 22 hours per day. 2.14 On 9 September 2014, a medical and psychological opinion, based on the Manual on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Istanbul Protocol), concluded that there was a high degree of consistency between chronic post-traumatic stress and depressive disorders and the torture described. The opinion noted that the injury to the dorsum of the foot was still visible (“post-traumatic cystic tumour measuring approximately 3 cm by 2 cm located below the malleolus on the far edge of the dorsum of the right foot”) and that “the size, shape and assessment of said injury is fully consistent with the account given”. The opinion also stated GE.22-01556 3