Alleged torture of mentally ill inmate prompts outcry and calls for investigation in a Dominican prison

Salcedo.- The National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) has denounced an alleged case of torture involving a young man with evident mental health issues at the Juana Núñez fortress in Salcedo, within the Hermanas Mirabal province. According to Luciano Bertozzo, a local representative of the CNDH, the mistreatment took place after 20-year-old Manuel Bladimir Hidalgo Cordero was recaptured following his escape from the prison.

Disturbing photographs reveal visible signs of physical abuse on Hidalgo Cordero’s buttocks. During a visit to the prison, Hidalgo Cordero pleaded for help, stating his suffering to representatives from the CNDH and the Public Ministry who arrived to investigate the alleged mistreatment. The young man, who was being held as a preventive prisoner, sustained injuries to his face and buttocks.

Bertozzo claims that the Dominican Republic Army guards stationed at the fortress used a wooden board to assault Hidalgo Cordero. He further alleges that the guards kept the young man confined in a cell without providing him with the necessary medical attention for the injuries they had inflicted.

Bertozzo demands a thorough investigation into the incident and the implementation of measures to eradicate and prevent all forms of torture, corporal punishment, and violence by state authorities. He calls upon civil society organizations, the media, and citizens to actively monitor and protect the fundamental rights of individuals.