National youth service training - Solidarity Peace Trust

Quotation from hospital record cards:
Date of admission: 4/3/02
Date of discharge: 24/04/02
4/03/02: Patient has abdominal trauma and burns on the soles of the feet.
Extensive swelling of both feet with abrasion on the legs.
Extensive swelling of right hand.
Laceration and deformed right index finger.
Facial swelling with bruises
Cardiovascular and respiratory systems – no abnormalities detected.
Full blood count: * Haemoglobin –8,5 gm/dl
Bladder grossly distended – there is post micturition urinary retention. Both kidneys: moderate
hydronephrosis. Normal spleen, urea/cretinine raised grossly.
20/3/02: 3 units packed blood cells transfused.
Debridement of both palmar surfaces of feet done. Wound dressed with betadine.
16/04/02: silver sulphadiazine cream dressing done. Patient skin grafted but graft did not take well.
Patient has requested to go home.
Discharged on 24/04/02
9/05/02: wound on sole of right foot smelly: 10 cm x 8 cm. Pus swab taken.
Sole of left foot: wound 5 x 4 cm.
Wounds on hand have healed; pigmented lesions on right lower back.
Clinical findings:
Forehead: circular scar 1 cm in diameter.
Right and left upper arms: circular scars approx 1 cm in diameter on lateral aspects of forearms, one
on each.
Right and left hand: similar circular scars on the back of each hand, 1cm.
Right foot: the foot is swollen from the ankle downwards. The sole of the foot has an open wound
approx 14 cm by 9 cm that encompasses the entire foot from the upper edge of the heel to midway
down the ball of the foot, reaching all the way through the fat layer. The bottom of the wound is
covered with inflammatory tissue and anatomical structures cannot be identified. The wound is very
smelly and oozes thick dark liquid as soon as the dressing is removed. The toes are swollen and
discoloured. Any movement of the leg or foot is painful. Any touch to the sole of the foot is extremely
painful.
Left foot: rounded wound approx 7cm by 8 cm in centre of sole of foot, with a deeper area in the centre
approx 5 cm x 4 cm, with total destruction of fat layer. A tendon is visible at the base of this wound.
This foot is also extremely painful, but as the wound is more contained, the toes are able to take some
weight.
Opinion:
There is full agreement between the description of mutilating torture, the described symptoms and the
clinical findings. The circular scars on his arms and forehead are consistent with cigarette burns. The
wounds on the soles of his feet are completely consistent with deep burns inflicted on purpose. Kidney
failure diagnosed in hospital could have been caused by rhabdomyolysis (extensive destruction of
muscular tissue with muscular substance sedimenting in the kidneys).
He has beyond any reasonable doubt been tortured as described.
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