Prisoners' human rights to be spot checked

TEXT: Alina Chernoivanova  AP photo

In the near future special human rights commissions will be set up throughout Russia to monitor the observance of human rights in prisons. This week the State Duma approved in the 1st reading a bill allowing human rights activists to visit colonies and prisons and to talk with inmates in private without notifying the administration in  advance.

On Tuesday the State Duma approved at the first reading the draft bill on public control over the observance of human rights in places of incarceration. The document was backed by 385 deputies, with only 226 needed for the bill to be passed. Two deputies abstained from voting and nobody voted against.

The bill calls for the establishment of public control over what is happening to a person at all stages of incarceration. In the opinion of human rights activist, the rights of Russian inmates are violated on a regular basis. In particular, many of them are subjected to unlawful restrictions of freedom, inhuman treatment and even torture.

In particular, according to the Committee for Human Rights, some 30 per cent of all persons suspected of, or charged with offences punishable under criminal law, and about 20 per cent of those held in custody for minor administrative violations are subjected to torture.

However, the highest instance to which prisoners can appeal when their rights are violated is the administration of the penitentiary institution where they are held, and prison bosses are often not interested in altering the existing situation, claim human rights activists.

To improve the situation of prisoners' rights, human rights activists suggest creating special public watchdogs in every Russian region, comprising representatives of advocacy groups. The draft will enable observers to visit penitentiary institutions, inspect cells, punishment cells and other premises, without having to apply for permission in advance.

As Sergei Lukashevsky of the Moscow Helsinki Group told Gazeta.Ru, this is an especially important aspect of control over the observance of human rights in prisons. Observers will also be allowed to converse with detainees and convicts in private, ''in conditions enabling the prison administration officials to see but not hear them.''

At the same time the authors of the bill – the State Duma's committee for the affairs of public unions and religious organizations, and the security committee – noted that before the second reading it is necessary to regulate the procedure of forming and liquidating supervisory commissions.

Furthermore, in the opinion of the authors, articles relating to material and technical maintenance, as well as to information support of the commissions' work must be included in the bill.

The work on the draft has been going on for several years. The State Duma of the previous calling passed it in all three readings, but it was rejected by the upper house, the Federation Council. In 2000 its revised version was again submitted to the lower house, but the deputies rejected it.

The latest version of the bill was drafted by the Duma's committees for the affairs of public unions and religious organizations, and for security, with the help of leading experts in punishment execution law and the criminal procedure law; officials from the Interior Ministry and the Justice Ministry; representatives of the presidential human rights envoy of the Russian Federation and experts from the non-governmental organizations.

On the whole, human rights activists and representatives of the Main Directorate for the Execution of Punishment (GUIN) welcomed the bill. Only the Interior Ministry officials, according to Sergei Lukashevsky, protested against the lawmakers' idea of public control over prisons. They believe it necessary to fully control suspects in the interests of investigation.

In May this year Vladimir Putin, at the request of Ella Pamfilova, the head of the Kremlin's commission for human rights, publicly backed the bill. The presidential envoy to the lower house, Alexander Kotenkov, reminded the deputies of that before the vote on Tuesday. At the same time, Kotenkov added that the document will require  certain re-working.

17 Sep. 15:44 Gazeta ru