(Moscow, November 10, 1999)—The Russian police routinely torture people
in custody in order to force them to confess, Human Rights Watch charged
in a report released today.
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"Torture is epidemic in Russia today. It doesn't matter whether the crime
committed by the detainee is serious or not—in fact, it doesn't even
matter whether the detainee actually committed the crime or not. All
kinds of people may fall victim to this terrible human rights abuse."
Kenneth Roth, executive
director of Human Rights Watch
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Russian courts commonly accept these forced confessions as grounds for
conviction, and federal and local governments do not recognize police
torture as a problem, the report says. With only a few exceptions,
Russian police are not prosecuted, or even reprimanded, for committing
torture, although the practice clearly contravenes Russian and
international law.
The 196-page report, "Confessions At Any Cost: Police Torture in
Russia," is based on a two-year study, including more than fifty
interviews with torture victims in five regions across Russia. Dozens of
lawyers, former police officers, judges, and others were also
interviewed for the report.
"Torture is epidemic in Russia today," said Kenneth Roth, executive
director of Human Rights Watch. "It doesn't matter whether the crime
committed by the detainee is serious or not—in fact, it doesn't even
matter whether the detainee actually committed the crime or not. All
kinds of people may fall victim to this terrible human rights abuse."
Some Russian experts estimate that 50 percent of police detainees are
subject to torture or ill-treatment.
The most common form of torture involves prolonged beatings, with
punches, kicks, and blows from a nightstick commonly aimed at the
victim's head, back, kidneys, legs, and heels.
Other forms of torture have nicknames among police. The "slonik," or
"elephant," refers to the practice of asphyxiating a victim by putting a
gas mask over his face and turning off the oxygen supply (the hose is
thought to resemble an elephant's trunk). In the "lastochka," or
"swallow," the victim's hands are handcuffed behind his back and hung
from an iron bar with his feet off the ground, while he is beaten with a
nightstick. In the "konvertik," or "envelope," the detainee is forced to
sit for extended periods with his head between his knees and his hands
tied to his feet, while being beaten.
The police also use electric shock. Former detainees describe a
"cranking machine" similar to a field telephone, which sends an
excruciating current via electrodes inserted in the prisoners' ears. Two
people interviewed by Human Rights Watch jumped out the window of the
police station and were seriously injured rather than be subjected to
further electric shock.
Detainees are often sent to the "press-khata," or "press hut," where
cellmates who receive privileges from the police are encouraged to beat
or sometimes rape detainees to induce them to confess.
Police torture detainees suspected of minor crimes. Oleg Fetisov, a
fifteen-year-old boy in Ekaterinburg, was beaten and nearly asphyxiated
in 1996 for stealing a jacket from another schoolboy. Human Rights
Watch also documents several cases in which victims died from torture.
Most torture victims are unable to get immediate access to medical
professionals, let alone the official forensic medical experts without
whose testimony torture is difficult to prove in a Russian court. As a
result, medical evidence of torture is almost always lost.
Complaints about torture filed during a defendant's trial are usually
dismissed without serious consideration. The procuracy, which is the
state agency responsible for criminal investigation, is also responsible
for protecting human rights—a clear conflict of interest in cases of
torture.
Human Rights Watch is aware of the conviction of 25 police officers for
torture or ill-treatment in seven criminal cases, over the course of six
years.
"Nearly all cases of torture are going unpunished," said Roth. "The
Russian government will not even acknowledge that the problem exists."
Roth urged the Russian government to establish a commission consisting
of representatives of law enforcement agencies, human rights
organizations, the government ombudsman on torture, and other experts,
and to task this commission with drawing up a plan to combat torture.
Roth also called on the Russian government to institute a prompt
judicial review of all detentions, so that judges can assess the
lawfulness of the detention and the treatment received by the detainee.
He also called on the government to reform the procuracy to ensure that
policing and judicial tasks are performed by separate and independent
bodies.
Roth urged Western government to take special care that no aid money be
dispensed to units of security forces that are responsible for gross
human rights abuse.
Four drawings of the various methods of torture are available for view here.
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