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journey. She recounted that they pinched her breasts, while they beat her and yelled
obscene expressions, including forcing her to call one of the agents who was attacking
her “cowboy.” At least three agents penetrated her vagina with their fingers,
encouraging each other and, on one occasion, two agents held her hips while they
encouraged another agent to “fuck her” and they threatened her, insulted her, hit her
with their fists and forced their tongues into her mouth. The police “rubbed” their
genitalia against her external genitalia, “first one, then another, then the first one did
it again,” and then she was penetrated again “but this time with a small object” that
she believed were keys; after this they left her naked and in a supremely vulnerable
position for the rest of the journey to the CEPRESO. In the prison, she was beaten
again and insulted and denied medical treatment.
9. María Cristina Sánchez Hernández: was beaten and threatened with death at the time
of her detention. During the transfer to the prison, she was beaten while she was
interrogated and was forced to sing and tell obscene jokes; they groped her, touched
her and squeezed her breasts and between her legs, and she saw how they forced
another woman to perform oral sex. On arrival at the CEPRESO, they again kicked,
insulted and threatened her.
10. Angélica Patricia Torres Linares: was beaten, subjected to sexualized insults,
threatened with death and rape, and mauled at the time of her detention. During the
transfers, they beat her and insulted her again, squeezed her breasts hard, groped her
and touched her buttocks and genitalia on top of her clothes. In the CEPRESO, she was
again beaten, threatened with rape, and a police agent touched her “vulva with his
fingers, and subsequently penetrated [her].”
11. Claudia Hernández Martínez: was beaten, insulted and mauled at the time of her
detention. In addition, during the transfer, the police agents removed her underwear
and several agents introduced their fingers “violently and repeatedly in [her] vagina,”
while others took off her brassiere, licked her breasts and pulled her nipples, among
other forms of sexual violence. In the CEPRESO, they continued to beat her, forced her
to watch someone being raped, and pulled her hair and she suffered another attempt
to rape her.
188. The foregoing reveals that the eleven women in this case were beaten, insulted, mauled and
subjected to diverse forms of sexual violence by numerous police agents at the time of their
detention, during the transfers and when they entered the CEPRESO. The Court notes that, in this
case, the sexual or sexualized nature of all the violence used against the victims stands out. The
indecent touching, groping, pinching and blows were inflicted on intimate parts of the body that
are typically reserved to each individual’s private sphere, such as their breasts, genitalia and
mouth. In addition, many of them were made to undress and remain naked in the buses and
trucks in which they were transferred to the CEPRESO, or on entering the prison. 285 In addition,
the insults, verbal abuse and threats to which the women were subjected had highly sexual and
discriminatory gender-based connotations. Although these forms of violence will be examined in
greater detail below (para. 210 and ff.), the Court considers that all the violent actions and
Subjecting women to forced nudity, while they are guarded by armed men constitutes sexual violence. Cf. Case of
the Miguel Castro Castro Prison v. Peru. Merits, reparations and costs. Judgment of November 25, 2006. Series C No. 160,
para. 306, and Case of López Soto et al. v. Venezuela. Merits, reparations and costs. Judgment of September 26, 2018.
Series C No. 362, para. 131. In this regard, in addition to the nudity to which many of them were subjected during the
transfer, Yolanda Muñoz Diosdada recounter, for example, that on arriving at the CEPRESO they “entered a room in which
there were already men and women who were naked,” they were ordered to undress and she was left “naked in front of
everyone, men and women,” and suffered a strong “impression on seeing [herself] there among everyone, several of
them bleeding” (supra para. 103).
285