176. In the PTJ, at the request of a prosecutor, forensic medical examinations were performed on Claudia Valencia Alarcón, Norma Alarcón Castillo, F.E.P.M., Victoria Gutiérrez Aguilar, Jenny Paola Lulleman, Carlos Enrique Castro Ramírez, Mercedes Valencia Chuquimia, Julia Mamanu Mamani and Víctor Manuel Boggiano Bruzzón. According to these examination, it was determined that Victoria Gutiérrez Aguilar, Jenny Paola Lulleman Gutiérrez and Julia Mamanu Mamani showed no signs of injury. The evaluations of Claudia Valencia Alarcón and Norma Alarcón indicated that they had injuries that warranted two days sick leave. In the case of F.E.P.M, the evaluation indicated four days sick leave; for Enrique Castro Ramírez, seven days, and for Víctor Manuel Boggiano, fifteen days. Regarding Mercedes Valencia Chuquimia, some injuries were noted, but no sick leave was indicated.254 177. It is also necessary to indicate that the absence of physical evidence should not be construed to suggest that ill-treatment did not occur since such acts of violence against persons frequently leave no marks or permanent scars.255 The same is true for cases of sexual violence and rape in which the fact that this has occurred is not necessarily revealed by a medical examination because not all cases of sexual violence and/or rape cause physical injuries or illnesses that can be verified by a medical examination.256 B.2.3. Acts that occurred during the detentions 178. According to the statements of the alleged victims who were taken to the PTJ, during their detention they were subjected to verbal and physical violence by the police officers.257 The women stated that they were victims of rape and other acts of sexual violence,258 and these will be analyzed in the following section. B.2.4. Subsequent medical assessments 254 Cf. Forensic medical certificates dated December 18, 2001 (evidence file, folios 11554 to 11561). Cf. United Nations, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Istanbul Protocol (Manual on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment) New York and Geneva, 2004, para. 161. 255 256 Cf. Case of Fernández Ortega et al. v. Mexico. Preliminary objection, merits, reparations and costs. Judgment of August 30, 2010. Series C No. 215, para. 124, and Case of Azul Rojas Marín et al. v. Peru, supra, para. 153. 257 Among the abuse they suffered, the alleged victims recounted that they were obliged to sleep on a wet floor; were woken up during the night to dowse them with water and beat them; had limited access to food and water; a sergeant tore off the stitches from Elacio Peña Córdoba’s bullet wound with a ballpoint pen, and covered it with locoto (Capsicum pubescens) and salt in order to make him suffer (Statement made by Eladio Cruz Añez undated, evidence file, folio 12591). Víctor Manuel Boggiano also described how he was beaten until he passed out, his ears bled, and he lost the toenails off his left foot (Statement by Víctor Manuel Boggiano Bruzzón, undated, evidence file, folio 12607). He also recounted how Genaro Ahuacho Luna was tortured: “I was in the hall. He was lying face down; a door opened. “I was on the ground, I got up and they strung me up from hooks. When I was on the ground, I looked at the deceased, and saw how two or three of them hit him … with a rifle and with truncheons. He fainted due to the immense pain. They brought him round and again hit him on the head very brutally with batons and blunt objects, while they kept him handcuffed with his hands behind his back, in the same way that they did to me at the time I was captured” (Psychological expertise in relation to the alleged cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of Víctor Manuel Boggiano Bruzzón conducted by Pablo Gabriel García in August 2021, evidence file folio 9859). Claudia Valencia stated that they were searched constantly, with ungloved fingers introduced in the vagina; firearms were also sometimes introduced into the vagina (Affidavit made by Claudia Mariela Valencia Alarcón on June 14, 2022, evidence file, folio 12628). Patricia Gallardo stated that she was interrogated for from 4 to 5 hours. During the interrogation, she was beaten and they made her spread her legs to introduce a gun barrel between her legs. She indicated that, on several occasions, the police officers took the women detainees into a corridor where they undressed them and then raped them, putting their fingers in the women’s private parts. She also indicated that they threatened to harm her children. In particular, she indicated that, on several occasions during the night, she was taken from her cell to a room where she was raped by several police officers (Affidavit made by Patricia Gallardo Ardúz on June 15, 2020, evidence file, folios 12720). 258 52