AI Index: EUR 46/065/2003 (Public)
News Service No: 167
11 July 2003
Russian Federation: Torture and ill-treatment in the Chechen Republic
Amnesty International welcomes
the unprecedented move of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture
and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) to issue a second public
statement in two years concerning the same issue - human rights abuses in the
Chechen Republic.
In the statement of 10 July 2003 the CPT assessed that there is a continued resort
to torture and other forms of ill-treatment by members of the law enforcement
agencies and federal forces operating in the Chechen Republic, and that action
taken to bring to justice those responsible has proved largely unproductive.
"The CPT has sent a clear and unequivocal message to the Russian authorities to
make a formal commitment to end human rights violations such as torture, ill-treatment
and 'disappearances' committed by law enforcement officials in the Chechen Republic,
and to bring to justice those responsible for such abuses," the human rights organization
said.
In its statement, the CPT identified measures needed to be taken by the Russian
Federation authorities. They include a formal statement from the highest political
level denouncing ill-treatment by members of the federal forces and law enforcement
agencies in the Chechen Republic.
Amnesty International calls upon the Russian authorities to act promptly upon
the recommendations suggested in the public statement of the CPT, and take immediate
steps to ensure that law enforcement agencies and security forces respect human
rights at all times. The Russian authorities must also ensure that those who will
violate these rights will be made to answer in a court of law.
"Amnesty International recently welcomed the decision of the Russian government
to authorize the publication of one of the CPT reports following its visits to
the Russian Federation. We hope that the Russian authorities will continue their
cooperation with the Committee and fulfil their commitment to respect the dignity
and humanity of people deprived of their liberty in the Russian Federation," the
organization added.
The organization strongly urges the Russian government to:
Take all necessary measures
to implement all CPT's recommendations without delay;
Make public the reports
of all the CPT's visits to the Russian Federation;
Inform the public about
measures it is taking to implement the CPT's recommendations.
Background
It is only on exceptional occasions that the CPT releases public statements regarding
its concerns in a particular country. The lack of response to its recommendations
relating to the Chechen Republic from the Russian government first prompted the
CPT to take this exceptional step in relation to the Russian Federation in July
2001. That statement expressed the CPT's concern about the impasse it had reached
with the Russian Federation on two issues, namely the carrying out of a thorough
and independent inquiry into events in a detention facility at Chernokozovo detention
centre during the period December 1999 to early February 2000, following information
strongly indicating that many detainees had been ill-treated; and action taken
to uncover and prosecute cases of ill-treatment of detainees in the Chechen Republic
during the current conflict. CPT delegations have so far made 11 visits to different
regions of the country. Six of these visits, including the last one between 23
and 29 May 2003, have been to the Chechen Republic.
The Russian Federation became a party to the European Convention for the Prevention
of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in 1998. The European
Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment (CPT), established by the Convention, is comprised of independent and
impartial experts, whose visits and recommendations aim to protect detainees from
torture, cruel and inhuman treatment. The reports of CPT visits and recommendations
are confidential: they can be published only with the consent of the government
in question.
The Russian Federation was the last of the states parties to the European Convention
Against Torture to authorize the publication of one of the CPT's reports. (EUR
46/059/2003)
Public Document
****************************************
For more information please call Amnesty International's press office in London,
UK, on +44 20 7413 5566
Amnesty International, 1 Easton St., London WC1X 0DW. web: http://www.amnesty.org