According to Human Rights Watch: "Human Rights Watch documented numerous cases of torture at the Nampala military camp in Ségou region. Human Rights Watch interviewed 26 detainees who said they had suffered torture and other ill-treatment, and were witnesses to other cases of severe mistreatment in military camps. Most of these cases occurred in the first half of 2015. [...] A shepherd, 47, described being tortured after he was stopped at a checkpoint in June. The torture continued after he was taken to the Nampala military base: I was arrested on market day when I’d gone to buy grain for my cows. A soldier asked for me, like he had my name, and ordered me into his vehicle. When we reached a checkpoint, he hogtied me with a rubber cord; I was face down, legs behind. They took off my boubou, and they began beating me with a switch. They put the switch in the fire and burned me over and over again – on my head, my back… they kept going back and forth to the fire and passing it over my body. They kicked and hit me in the face. They accused me of selling the jihadists meat and gas, and of informing on the FAMA. “You bastard, where are they hiding?” [they said]. They urinated on me… I was wet with blood. They also kicked me, put sand in my mouth. It lasted from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Later, I was dragged to the Nampala base, where I was interrogated by the officer in charge and others. They said they would kill me that night. The next morning I was taken to the clinic, but the officer yelled for the nurse to stop, and ordered me back to the cell. Later, I was taken out for interrogation again, but a soldier intervened, saying, “He’s almost dead anyway.” I couldn’t stand, and insisted that, kill me or not, I was innocent. I spent 11 days in Nampala during which one hand was chained to a motorcycle in the cell. I received no medical care. My body was swollen. I could barely sleep and was in terrible pain. Some days later I was seen by a judge, and that very day liberated with three others; all had been tortured. I was later treated for second degree burns. Now it hurts when I walk; my skin is so tight. When my wife saw me she cried. [...] As has been the case since 2012, the vast majority of detainees said the abuse stopped after they were handed over to government gendarmes. Several torture victims described heated discussions when gendarmes observed the signs of abuse or torture. One said: “When the gendarme saw our open wounds, that we could barely walk, he screamed at the soldiers, ‘Look at what you’ve done to these people! You have no right to do this, rebel or not. Is this normal? Were you not trained?’” Several victims said they were taken for medical treatment to a local clinic, and that gendarmes insisted that medical certificates of their injuries received while in army custody be included in their legal dossiers. Human Rights Watched documented fewer cases of mistreatment when people were arrested by soldiers accompanied by gendarmes who have the mandated role of provost marshal. When asked why gendarmes are not always present in military operations, a Defense Ministry official told Human Right Watch: “They can’t be everywhere, and the mistreatment often happens in isolated places.” ^[+]