Some time after this wave of arrests, the government announced, without providing any proof, that there had been an attempted coup d’état. 55. The accused were never brought before a court of law according to communications 164/97 – 196/97, about a dozen of the accused were tortured and executed in the military camps of Inal, J’réida, Tiguint and Aleg between November and December 1990. Most remarkably, most of the communications allege that the victims were beaten to death. 56. The widows and mothers behind the present communications, have previously brought their complaints before the Mauritanian national authorities, both civilian and military, in particular the Minister of Interior, the head of the national army, the National Assembly, the Senate, the Special Court of Justice, the Nouakchott Criminal Court, the President and the Minister of National Defence. In all these cases they were either ignored or chased away. 57. On 14 June 1993, the Mauritanian government issued an enactment, no. 023 93, granting amnesty to those accused of perpetrating the series of murders for which the beneficiaries of the victims are hereby claiming compensation of injuries suffered. Provisions of the Charter Alleged to have been Violated: 58. The communications allege a series of grave and massive violations of articles 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 16 and 26 of the African Charter. Procedure: 59. Communications 164/97 – 196/97 were received by the Secretariat in April 1997. They were all submitted by the beneficiaries of the alleged victims. 60. On 6 October 1997, the Secretariat received a note verbale dated the 1st of the same month, with reference number 075/MAEC communicating the Mauritanian government’s reaction to the accusations made against it. The gist was that Mauritania called on the Commission not to be seized of the said communications for the reason that they “deal with a naturally deplorable, but peculiar and exceptional situation [...] that has in any case since been surmounted... ”. 61. On 9 October 1997, the Secretariat acknowledged receipt of the said note, pointing out that the fact that the Mauritanian State had paid compensation to the beneficiaries of the victim of the alleged violations (which are in any case not denied by the State) cannot invalidate the Commission’s deliberations. 62. At the 23rd session, the Commission adjudged on the admissibility of the communications, decided to combine the procedure followed for the present communications with those for communications 54/91, 61/91, 96/93, 98/93, 10