#6521 #6522
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Amnesty International
Russian Federation
"Denial of Justice" (Summary)
AI Index: EUR 46/046/2002
Publish date: 29 October 2002
This document is a summary of Amnesty International's report "Denial of Justice" which analyses the human rights situation in the Russian Federation. The unveiling of the report coincides with the launch of a worldwide campaign for justice for everybody in the Russian Federation.
[Full report: http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/EUR460272002?OpenDocument&of=COUNTRIES\R USSIAN+FEDERATION]
The report "Denial of Justice" points to specific and serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law by Russian law enforcement and security forces; it emphasizes the obstacles faced by victims, particularly women, children and members of ethnic minorities, in obtaining redress and the necessary measures to enable them to obtain justice. It takes into account the dramatic changes in the political, economic and legal systems of the Russian Federation and their impact on its 144 million people in the last ten years.
1. BACKGROUND
The Russian Federation emerged as a sovereign state from the collapsing Soviet Union in 1991. Since 1991, Russia has undergone substantial political, economic, legal and cultural change.
Economic liberalization has enriched some and impoverished others; the newly acquired freedoms of expression and movement have been accompanied by growth in nationalist and separatist movements. On the human rights front, some of the gross violations for so long associated with the former Soviet Union have been eradicated, but widespread abuses by Russian law enforcement officials and security forces persist, often in a climate of impunity.
A major nuclear power and one of five permanent members of the UN Security Council, Russia retains an important place on the international stage. In the post-Soviet era, Russia has sought to reassert its position as a global player in trade and international relations. For example, it has joined the G8 grouping of wealthy, industrialized nations, and has contributed troops to international peacekeeping operations to countries following armed conflicts, such as those in Bosnia and Kosovo. Russia is a top producer and exporter of military, security and police equipment and evidence of such exports being used for humanitarian rights violations has been widely documented.
The Soviet Union signed and ratified a number of international human rights treaties between the 1960s and 1991. However, for decades the authorities largely ignored the obligations they had undertaken and human rights at home saw little or no improvement. The break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991 brought renewed hopes that the political will to turn these human rights commitments into reality would emerge.
It is clear that there is a wide disparity between the international human rights obligations that Russia has promised to uphold, and the reality on the ground. The authorities need to send a clear message to their law enforcement and security forces that they must respect human rights in all circumstances, and that all those who do not will be prosecuted. In addition, the authorities must act with due diligence to protect, ensure and fulfil the rights of all people in its territories -- including ethnic and national minorities; lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people; women; and children -- in order to protect them from discrimination.
2. TORTURE AND ILL-TREATMENT IN CUSTODY
Compelling information gathered by Amnesty International over recent years from victims and other sources attests to the widespread use of torture and ill-treatment by law enforcement officials across the Russian Federation. Torture and ill-treatment are frequently used by police to elicit confessions or incriminating information from suspects. There are also persistent reports of torture and ill-treatment in pre-trial detention centres and prisons. Overcrowding and insanitary conditions in pre-trial detention facilities (also known by the Russian acronym "SIZO") are generally so extreme that they amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Poor conditions also prevail in prisons where infectious diseases are rife and medical treatment is inadequate.
2.1 Methods of torture and ill-treatment
The use of torture and ill-treatment in police custody to elicit "confessions" or incriminating information from suspects appears to be virtually routine. Beatings with fists and batons, along with kicking, are the most common forms of torture and ill-treatment reported to Amnesty International. However, police reportedly often use other torture methods to force suspects to confess, particularly methods that leave no physical traces or leave marks that will have disappeared by the time the victim has access to the outside world or is brought to court.
Victims have described to Amnesty International how they were partially asphyxiated in police custody to extract "confessions". One such method, known as "slonik" ("the elephant"), involves restraining the victim, forcibly placing a gas mask over the victim's head, and cutting off the air supply until they lose consciousness. The air supply is then restored. The torturers then threaten to turn it off again unless the victim signs a "confession". Variations of this technique include spraying tear-gas into the mask, which makes the victim vomit, or using a plastic bag instead of a gas mask.
Another reported torture method is known as "lastochka" ("the swallow"). The detainee's arms are handcuffed behind the back in a raised position, and the person is then suspended by the arms from the wall or ceiling causing great pain. In some cases, the person is beaten while suspended. In the method known as "konvert" ("the envelope"), the person is forced to place their head between their knees, and their hands are handcuffed or tied to their ankles. They are then beaten in this position.
Other torture techniques reported to Amnesty International include sexual violence and rape, the use of electric shocks, striking on the head with hardback books, burning with cigarettes, beating with plastic bottles partially filled with water, and threats against the victim or their loved ones.
Amnesty International also continues to receive reports of incidents of torture and ill-treatment in SIZOs and in prisons, including cases related to special riot police deployed in prisons.
2.2 Conditions of detention
Nearly a million men, women and children are incarcerated in Russia, including more than 200,000 awaiting trial. Most of those in pre-trial detention are held in conditions that amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. A primary cause of such conditions is chronic overcrowding.
The criminal justice system has been unable to cope with the investigation and trial of the large number of criminal cases within a reasonable time. This has inevitably led to prolonged periods of pre-trial detention. In some cases, the appalling conditions in pre-trial detention contribute to detainees "confessing" in order to reduce the time they spend in SIZOs.
In many SIZOs chronic overcrowding forces detainees to sleep in shifts, as there are fewer beds than inmates, and encourages the spread of infectious diseases.
Some 20,000 women and girls are held in pre-trial detention facilities, where they are segregated from male detainees. Approximately 40,000 women and girl prisoners were held in 35 remote prison colonies for women in 2001. There are only three prison colonies for convicted girls in the whole country, which means that girls as young as 13 are held hundreds or thousands of kilometres from their homes. This makes maintaining links with families or receiving material support difficult. In all these colonies, inmates suffer from inadequate nutrition, as well as poor hygiene and healthcare. Menstruating women are reportedly not provided with sanitary supplies and so resort to using rags or the stuffing of their mattresses.
2.3 At risk of torture
Although anyone who comes into contact with law enforcement officials as a suspect or even a witness to a crime may be at risk of torture and ill-treatment, members of ethnic minorities and the poor are particularly at risk. The special safeguards to protect women and children from abuse in custody are not respected in practice.
2.3.1 Women
Women in police custody have been subjected to torture, including rape and other sexual violence. Such abuses are facilitated by the frequent failure of the authorities to ensure that women deprived of their liberty are informed of their right to a lawyer; that they are interrogated in the presence of their lawyer; and that they are attended by women staff. The abuses are also made more likely by the lack of gender-specific information in programs to educate and train officials regarding the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment.
The risks facing female detainees are compounded by the notorious reluctance of procurators to investigate thoroughly allegations by women that they have suffered sexual and other abuses in police custody.
2.3.2 Children
Under international standards that the Russian Federation has ratified, children are entitled to special protection, including against torture and ill-treatment, because their youth makes them particularly vulnerable to abuse. Yet children who are picked up by Russian police are denied this special protection. For example, in cases known to Amnesty International children have been denied one of the most basic protections -- having a lawyer and an adult relative or appropriate adult present during questioning -- which among other things serves as a safeguard against torture and ill-treatment. Amnesty International has documented cases where children have been tortured or ill-treated by police in such circumstances.
Such findings are particularly disturbing given the scale of arrests and detention of children in Russia. More than a million juveniles were reportedly charged by the police in 2001.
Children in Russia are routinely deprived of their liberty for months or even years in pre-trial detention and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment for relatively minor offences. In mid-2001 there were more than 17,000 children serving prison sentences in 64 special colonies for juveniles, according to the Justice Ministry. Many more were held in SIZOs. Like adults, most are crammed into overcrowded, dirty, badly ventilated and vermin-infested cells - conditions that are cruel, inhuman and degrading. However, there have been some improvements in the way young prisoners are treated. For example, reports indicate that children are no longer held in solitary confinement or disciplinary isolation cells as punishment.
Once in SIZOs or prisons, children are vulnerable to abuse by both warders and other inmates.
2.3.3 Ethnic minorities
People belonging to certain ethnic groups or nationalities, including Chechens and other Russian citizens, as well as migrant workers from territories of the former Soviet Union and refugees from further afield, have been stereotyped by Russian law enforcement officials as "terrorists", drug dealers or other types of criminal. The result has been the use of "racial profiling" -- the widespread targeting by police of people, often on the basis of physical appearance, for checks of their homes and personal documents in relation to "registration". Those targeted by police are then at risk of human rights abuses such as arbitrary arrest, torture and ill-treatment.
There is a consensus of concern that discriminatory practices are linked with the registration system and its enforcement, particularly in Moscow. In 1991 the "propiska" system, under which people had to register their place of residence and were not allowed to move or change it without official permission, was abolished. However, variants of this system are still being enforced by some local governments.
2.4 Why torture happens
Suspects are most at risk of torture and ill-treatment in the hours immediately following arrest, when they are being questioned and before formal charges have been filed.
Pressure to convict
There is a rising fear in society at large about crime levels and poorly paid and inadequately trained and resourced police are under intense pressure to solve crimes. Police are also, according to reports, promoted on the basis of the number of cases they "solve". Such factors appear to encourage the use of illegal methods, such as torture and ill-treatment, in order to elicit "confessions" quickly from suspects. The system of promotion may also have the effect of discouraging police from recording crimes they believe they cannot solve.
Acceptance of confessions extracted under torture
Despite clear laws, investigative police in Russia routinely use torture and ill-treatment to extract "confessions". Such methods are in effect tolerated by the courts, which accept "confessions" taken under duress as valid evidence, even if they are retracted in court by the defendant, and rarely take action in response to allegations of torture. There are widespread allegations of collusion between the procuracy and the police to secure convictions through illegal means, and to cover up complaints of torture and ill-treatment.
Denial of access to lawyers
Article 48 of the Constitution guarantees detainees the right to a lawyer from the moment of detention. However, many suspects in police custody have complained that they were either not provided with a lawyer or were given a lawyer who was clearly working in collusion with the police. In other cases, detainees have said that they did not ask for legal representation out of fear that such a request would result in further torture and ill-treatment by the police. Some lawyers have told Amnesty International that they believe they have been deliberately obstructed from making contact with their clients, for example by being kept waiting for long periods on spurious grounds when they tried to visit their clients.
The right to a lawyer is not, however, afforded to those called in for questioning as witnesses. Anyone asked to come to a police station as a witness is obliged to do so, and what may appear to be an innocuous request can have very serious consequences. According to reports, the witness often becomes a suspect, yet their status as a witness means that they have no right to a lawyer during questioning. There is also no express requirement in Russian law for a lawyer to be present during the writing and signing of confessions.
Denial of access to medical professionals
Detainees are often not asked whether they wish to be examined by a medical professional before, during or after questioning. Prompt medical examination of people deprived of their liberty can be an effective safeguard against torture and ill-treatment.
Suspects not informed of their rights
Under Article 51 of the Constitution, police are obliged to inform detainees of their rights, such as the right not to testify against oneself or close relatives. However, in practice suspects are usually not informed of their rights, including their right to bring a complaint against the authorities for torture and ill-treatment.
Prolonged pre-trial detention
Under the old Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) the procuracy, rather than the court, decided within 48 hours of arrest on the "means of restraint". In law, the procuracy could choose between ordering a person to be detained or released on a written pledge not to flee. However, in practice, there was no presumption of liberty -- suspects were usually detained. Courts generally upheld the procurator's decision.
Under the new CPC the use of pre-trial detention is not permitted for offences carrying sentences of up to two years' imprisonment, except when there is a risk that the accused might not appear in court. The new code states that pre-trial detention should last a maximum of two months, although it may be extended to six months if the case is deemed to be complex. However, the Procurator-General can submit a request to a court to extend the period to 18 months.
Under the old CPC, a judge could order the case to be sent back to the procuracy for further investigation without ordering the release of the suspect, if the court decided that there was not enough evidence to convict.57 Amnesty International has monitored cases during which this happened repeatedly and where delays in trial proceedings led to pre-trial detention periods of several years. As stated above, conditions in pre-trial detention in many facilities are such that they constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The prospect of remaining in such conditions for prolonged periods has in effect coerced detainees into "confessing" to reduce the time spent in pre-trial detention.
3. CHECHNYA
The conflict in Chechnya has been characterized by serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. Independent verification of violations has frequently been gravely hampered by the security situation in the region, and obstacles to access imposed by the Russian authorities on international human rights monitors, as well as domestic and foreign journalists, seeking to operate in Chechnya. However, Amnesty International has actively researched numerous, consistent and credible reports that Russian forces have been responsible for widespread human rights violations such as "disappearances", extrajudicial executions and torture, including rape.
Chechen forces are also reported to have violated international humanitarian law, although independent investigation can likewise be very problematic. Chechen fighters who have been operating in and around populated areas have reportedly failed to take measures to protect civilians. According to reports, they have targeted civilian members of the pro-Moscow administration in attacks that have resulted in dozens of fatalities and serious injuries, and kidnapped civilians and held them hostage. Chechen forces also claim to have executed captured members of the Russian armed forces.
Amnesty International has received numerous reports that Russian forces have looted private homes and forced civilians to hand over money and jewellery at gunpoint. In some reported cases, for example during an attack on the village of Katyr-Yurt in February 2000, the looting appears to have been highly organized, with a wide range of military vehicles, including trucks and helicopters reportedly used to take away private property. In other cases, Russian security forces are reported to have burned down or otherwise destroyed civilian homes in what appeared to be deliberate acts of reprisal.
Amnesty International is concerned that the authorities have failed to investigate allegations of violations by Russian forces adequately and to bring those responsible to justice. This has created a climate in which Russian security forces believe that they can continue to violate the fundamental rights of the civilian population in Chechnya with impunity.
Hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes to escape the fighting. Most of those living in camps for displaced people in Chechnya and Ingushetia are women and children. Many of the camps visited by Amnesty International delegates are overcrowded and insanitary. Distribution of humanitarian aid from the state has been intermittent and arbitrarily withheld. Since December 1999, the Russian authorities have been notoriously reluctant to register new arrivals at these camps and others across Russia. Without registration, a displaced person has no access to state-provided shelter, humanitarian aid, education or healthcare.
3. 1 BACKGROUND
Russia is also a state party to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their two Additional Protocols of 1977, the second of which covers non-international armed conflict.
The Russian government has maintained that the second conflict in Chechnya is an "anti-terrorist operation", not an armed conflict. However, Article 1 of the 1977 Protocol II to the Geneva Conventions defines internal armed conflict as:
"[A]ll armed conflicts which are not covered by Article 1 of the Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I) and which take place in the territory of a High Contracting Party between its armed forces and dissident armed forces or other organized armed groups which, under responsible command, exercise such control over a part of its territory as to enable them to carry out sustained and concerted military operations and to implement this Protocol." (Emphasis added.)
Following the attacks in the USA on 11 September 2001, Russian claims that it was conducting an anti-terrorist operation in Chechnya found new resonance in the international community. International criticism of abuses in Chechnya has become more muted, apparently in response to Russian support for the US-led military intervention in Afghanistan and for US President George W. Bush's so-called "war on terrorism".
3. 2 TORTURE
There have been persistent and credible reports of widespread torture and ill-treatment by Russian forces in Chechnya. Thousands of civilians have been detained for varying periods during military raids or document checks. Although men between the ages of 18 and 30 are most likely to be picked up, women and children have also been detained. In some cases, detainees have reportedly been held in squalid facilities that amounted to little more than pits in the ground beside a checkpoint or at the main Russian military base at Khankala. Many of those detained have been tortured or ill-treated.
Methods of torture used by Russian forces that Amnesty International has documented include: rape of men, women and children; electric shocks; prolonged beatings, including on the genitals and on the ears causing damage to hearing or deafness; amputation of ears and fingers; and prolonged and painful shackling.
Because men and boys have frequently been arbitrarily detained by Russian forces following raids, many flee the area when they fear that their town or village may be raided; their families generally remain in their homes. Amnesty International has received several reports of women who remained in the village or town during raids being raped by Russian soldiers. The organization believes that the true extent of sexual abuse may be hidden. Women are often extremely reluctant to report rape because of the dysfunctional justice system (see below, Obstacles to justice) and because of the social stigma associated with rape.
3.3 EXTRAJUDICIAL EXECUTIONS
Amnesty International has received many reports of extrajudicial executions of Chechen civilians and captured fighters by Russian security forces.
Most extrajudicial executions appear to have involved the widespread and deliberate killing of individual civilians or captured fighters. However, mass killings of civilians have also been reported, particularly in the context of bouts of intense military activity, such as the battle for Grozny in January 2000. Russian soldiers also reportedly raped civilians during these attacks and looted and burned down homes.
3.4 'DISAPPEARANCES'
Hundreds of people are believed to have "disappeared" at the hands of Russian security forces in Chechnya since the start of the second conflict in 1999. The reluctance of the authorities to provide statistical information about abuses in Chechnya and the lack of access to the region afforded to independent human rights monitors make it difficult to assess the scale of this abuse and the true number of "disappearances" may well be much higher.
Many of the victims are feared to have been killed, often after being tortured. For the close relatives left behind, the "disappearance" of a loved one can also amount to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. They often have to face the uncertainty of not knowing what has happened to their relative after he or she was seen in the custody of the security forces, while their attempts to discover his or her fate and whereabouts are met with a lack of responsiveness on the part of the authorities.
3.5 OBSTACLES TO JUSTICE
In addition to the overriding problem of lack of political will on the part of the authorities to see Russian security forces prosecuted for human rights violations, there are many reasons why investigations and prosecutions in connection with violations in Chechnya have proved so inadequate.
In the Russian Federation, there are two prosecutorial bodies that deal with crimes. The military procuracy investigates crimes committed by members of the Russian military, including sub-units and special units within the army. The civilian procuracy deals with crimes committed by civilians and forces under the control of the Interior Ministry, such as combat units, OMON officers, and other police and law enforcement bodies. When a formal complaint about a crime in Chechnya is lodged, the authorities have to determine which procuracy should deal with it. This is especially problematic as security forces regularly operate in mixed units involving Interior Ministry troops, OMON officers, "contract" soldiers and regular army units. This situation has meant that the procuracies have passed complaints from one to the other, resulting in protracted and frequently dysfunctional processes. Another cause of confusion and delay is the fact that civilians cannot appeal directly to the military procuracy, since these are located on military bases to which civilians do not have access. In cases where Russian army units are believed to be responsible for a crime, the victim must turn first to the civilian procuracy, which will then forward the complaint on to its counterpart in the military procuracy. The situation in Chechnya continues to pose considerable dangers for Russian officials. There is little incentive for investigators from the procuracy to travel to or within the region to investigate alleged crimes when their lives and security are at risk. According to one report, five representatives of the procuracy were killed in Chechnya in 2000. Victims of human rights violations are afraid to complain - fear is perhaps the biggest obstacle to Chechens lodging formal complaints with the Russian authorities. Those who seek to file complaints with the authorities are fearful that this may entail negative consequences, including threats and intimidation from the units responsible for the violation. Moreover, travelling within Chechnya to file a complaint with the authorities entails risk; even a relatively short journey within Chechnya involves passing through innumerable checkpoints, each an opportunity for the extortion of bribes, arbitrary detention and other forms of abuse.
3.6 LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY
The measures which the authorities have taken to address human rights violations committed by Russian security forces during raids do not appear to have improved the conduct of Russian troops nor increased accountability for human rights violations. At the heart of this failure appears to be a lack of political will.
The Russian authorities' responses to abuses have ranged from blanket denials of responsibility -- for example, asserting that violations were in fact committed by Chechen fighters wearing Russian military uniforms -- to an acknowledgement that violations have been committed by their forces, followed by inadequate measures to tackle the problem.
One consequence of the failure to hold Russian forces to account for their actions is that the civilian population in Chechnya remains deeply suspicious of the authorities and has little faith that any complaint that they bring will result in a prosecution. Indeed, reluctance to report violations is exacerbated by the very real fear that any interaction with the authorities could lead to detention, torture and ill-treatment.
The Russian authorities have an obligation to respect, protect, ensure and promote fundamental human rights. They are clearly failing to fulfil this obligation to the civilian population of Chechnya. Those whose rights have been abused have a right to see justice done, to receive reparation and to see the wrongs done to them acknowledged and those responsible brought to justice. The Russian authorities are denying them this right. Amnesty International is calling on the authorities to live up to their obligations under national and international human rights and humanitarian law and to take concrete steps to prevent future abuses and to ensure effective redress and reparations for violations which have occurred in the past.
4. RECOMMENDATIONS
Amnesty International lists a number of measures that it believes can radically improve the protection of human rights in the Russian Federation. The organization calls on the Russian authorities to show a clear political commitment to promote and protect fundamental human rights for everybody and to give an unequivocal message that violations of these rights will not be tolerated. It calls on the Russian authorities to remove all elements of the passport and registration system (formerly known as the "propiska" system); to make domestic violence a criminal offence; and to ensure that children are deprived of their liberty only as a measure of last resort.
Amnesty International calls for the adoption of a law which specifically criminalizes torture and ill-treatment in line with international human rights standards and which provides for penalties that take into account the grave nature of these offences.
On Chechnya the organization calls on the Russian government to implement a number of recommendations in relation to the conduct of its forces in the republic -- to ensure the protection of civilians at all times, to investigate allegations of human rights violations, including war crimes, and to bring those responsible to justice in accordance with international standards. It calls on the Chechen armed opposition groups to protect civilians and captured combatants and to facilitate the operations of humanitarian organisations.
Amnesty International calls on the international community to expose and condemn human right abuses committed by Russian forces and Chechen rebels in Chechnya and to put pressure on the Russian authorities to investigate and prosecute in fair trial the perpetrators of human rights violations; to ensure that people who have fled the conflict are not returned to Chechnya or other parts of the Russian Federation unless and until their safe and durable return with dignity is assured.
Amnesty International is a worldwide voluntary activist movement working for human rights. It is independent of any government, political persuasion or religious creed. It does not support or oppose any government or political system, nor the views of those whose rights it seeks to protect. In compiling this report, the Amnesty International drew on field research trips, contacts with human rights organizations in Russia, daily monitoring of news from the country.
Source: Amnesty International, International Secretariat, 1 Easton Street, WC1X 8DJ, London, United Kingdom
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