164. The Commission recalled that the women who were arrested and detained were victims of particular insults; they were forced to undress and spread their legs, and were also victims of groping and the introduction of fingers and firearms in their genitalia. Those acts were carried out while the women were subject to the total control of state agents. Therefore, it considered that the said acts directly violated the dignity of those women and constituted serious acts of torture and violence against women. 165. The inter-American public defenders agreed with the Commission’s arguments. They indicated that the ill-treatment was aimed at self-incrimination by the alleged victims or, at least, at obtaining information to clarify a criminal act. They argued that the requirements had been met for the execution of torture. They alleged that, even if people were not beaten, the coercion, insults and threats suffered during the raids, arrests and detentions constituted “real psychological torture.” They added that most of the alleged victims also endured solitary confinement for more than 60 days. In particular, in the case of F.E.P.M., who was pregnant at the time of her arrest and had a miscarriage as a result of the violence suffered during the raid and the detention, and also the lack of medical assistance, they alleged that this was a case of gender-based violence. 166. Representative Jemio Mendoza alleged that, on numerous occasions, Patricia Catalina Gallardo Ardúz had been the victim of ill-treatment, torture and rape by police officers. In the case of María Fernanda Peña Gallardo, he considered that she had been a victim of psychological torture and that the threats she received resulted in a violation of Article 5 of the Convention because they were sufficiently real and imminent that they led her to contemplate suicide. He also alleged that the prosecutors and investigators took advantage of her condition as a woman and of her mental breakdown to exercise coercion by threatening to implicate her in the Prosegur case. He considered that this could be interpreted as a manifestation of violence against women. 167. Representative Gómez Rojas argued that it had been proved that the alleged victims had been subjected to torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, both at the time of their arrest and in the detention centers. He indicated that the disproportionate impact of the raids was due to the absence of a gender-based approach to prevent the numerous types of ill-treatment perpetrated against the women. He also argued that the circumstances and conditions in which Norma Alarcón de Valencia and Claudia Valencia Alarcón had been detained violated not only their right to personal integrity, but also the right of women to live free of violence established in the Convention of Belem do Pará. He considered that the acts of sexual violence were gender-based acts of violence aimed at subjugating the alleged victims, attacking them and denigrating as women. 168. The State argued that the Commission had not identified the violation of the right to personal integrity of the 26 alleged victims precisely because, in order to prove this violation, it had merely referred to the statements of five people,242 and newspaper photographs of eight people.243 It also argued that the Commission had considered proven that 16 people who had been taken to the Judicial Technical Police facilities had been subjected to violence and illtreatment; however, this assertion was only supported by the statements of the alleged victims, and there was no individualized evidence of such facts. It indicated that the forensic medical certifications requested by the prosecutor in the case described only minor injuries in the case of nine of the alleged victims. This refers to the statements of Mercedes Valencia, Alfredo Bazán y Rosas (José Miguel Abildo Díaz), Víctor Boggiano Bruzzón (Juan Ramírez Ortega), F.E.P.M. and Claudia Valencia Alarcón. 242 This refers to photographs in which it is possible to identify Blas Valencia, Norma Lupe Alarcón de Valencia, Carlos Enrique Castro, Víctor Manuel Boggiano Bruzzón (identified as Juan Ramírez), Elacio Peña, Alfredo Bazán y Rosas (identified as Alberto Farfán), Genaro Ahuacho Luna (identified as Walter Herrera Ríos) and Carlos Cruz Añez. 243 49