46 instigation, like a cruelty against their next of kin, especially their mothers, and also against the victims, who “were suffering with the thought of the suffering of their mothers and other relatives.” On the following days the “collective torture” continued. The inmates evaluated remained in the area called “no man’s land” without receiving food or water, without moving, without being allowed to use the bathroom. Upon their return to the pavilion, some inmates were kept incommunicado for five months and they received additional punishments, such as the one that consisted in putting up to 20 prisoners in a room of approximately 2 meters by 2 meters, where they could not sit or lie down, with a hole on the ground for a bathroom. During the following days and months the inmates received other mistreatments and they were submitted to psychological torture, through: the prohibition to work, read, and go to the courtyard; the obligation to remain in their cells 23 hours and a half per day; and the prohibition to receive visits. All these measures put the prisoners in a very stressful state, the interrupted their rhythm of life, and states of anxiety and despair were caused due to the lack of capacity to modify or prevent or be affected by these measures. The treatment inflicted on the next of kin of the inmates also constitutes torture, since they were victims of beatings, tear gases, bombs, and gunshots of the Armed Forces. They were humiliated by being called relatives of “terrorists”. They had to witness the destruction of their loved ones, and they were submitted to the horrible experience of looking for their relatives’ bodies in a pile, dismembered, bleeding, or en decomposition. They were also submitted to intimidations if they denounced or alleged their rights with the government, and for five months they were denied information and contact with the survivors of the events. The victims have suffered an accumulation of traumas, reason for which the psychological damage is deeper and longer lasting. The diagnosis that corresponds to similar experiences is that of “complex post-traumatic stress”. The passing of time did not have a healing effect on any of those interviewed that continue in a posttraumatic pathological process. “The impunity factor contributes significantly in preventing a recovery.” B) TESTIMONIAL EVIDENCE AND EXPERT ASSESSMENT 187. On the 26th and 27th days of June 2006 the Court received the statements of the witnesses proposed by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the State, and the common intervener in a public hearing (supra para. 93), as well as the opinion of the experts proposed by the common intervener. Below, the Tribunal summarizes the main parts of said statements and expert opinions. Statements a) Proposed by the Inter-American Commission 1. Gaby Balcazar Medina, alleged victim She was imprisoned on the second floor of pavilion 1A in the Criminal Center Castro Castro, along with approximately 100 other inmates. Only the inmates accused of terrorism were located in pavilions 1A (women) and 4B (men) of the criminal center