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Strasbourg,
30.06.2003 - The Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture
(CPT) has today published a report on the Russian Federation, at the request of
the Russian authorities and together with their response. The report concerns
the CPT’s third periodic visit to the Russian Federation, carried out in
December 2001. Although the committee has visited the Russian Federation on
eleven occasions since 1998, this is the first CPT visit report on Russia to be
made public.
The report
contains findings and recommendations concerning places of detention in two far
eastern regions of Russia, the territories of Khabarovsk and Primorskyi, as well
as in a number of Militia (police) establishments in Moscow.
During the
visit, the CPT received a disturbing number of allegations of physical
ill-treatment by members of the Militia. In the report, the committee calls upon the Russian authorities to make it clear to
Internal Affairs staff, and in particular to operational Militia staff in charge
of gathering evidence, that the ill-treatment of persons in their custody is
illegal and will be dealt with severely in the form of criminal prosecution and
disciplinary action. The CPT welcomes new legal provisions which improve access
to lawyers for detained persons. However, it recommends that the right of
persons detained by the Militia to be examined by a doctor be expressly
guaranteed.
As regards prisons, the CPT notes the progress made on reducing the
country’s prison population. Nevertheless, at SIZO No.1 in Vladivostok – a
pre-trial detention facility – the committee was concerned by the serious
overcrowding and the continuing presence of shutters blocking access to natural
light and fresh air in the cells. The report also criticises the practice of
transferring back to Militia-run detention centres remand prisoners diagnosed
with contagious tuberculosis, which is accompanied by an interruption of their
treatment.
The Russian response refers to some positive measures taken to implement
the CPT’s recommendations. In particular, the Ministry of Justice has
instructed regional prison directorates to
remove all shutters from the windows of prisoner accommodation; this is a major
step forward in terms of improving conditions of detention. Further, it is
indicated that the inmate population of the Vladivostok SIZO has dropped by 39%
and that all prisoners have been provided with individual sleeping places.
The CPT report also makes recommendations in respect of Vladivostok City
Psychiatric Hospital, which was severely overcrowded at the time of the visit
and offered few therapeutic and rehabilitative activities to patients. In their response, the Russian authorities indicate that additional
funding has been set aside for improving conditions at the hospital.
Council of Europe Secretary General Walter Schwimmer welcomed the decision
of the Russian authorities to authorise the publication of the report. “I hope
that the publication process will be extended to other CPT reports concerning
the Russian Federation, including those on visits to the Chechen Republic,” he
added.
The report (in English) and the response
(in English and Russian) are available on the CPT’s website: http://www.cpt.coe.int
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