COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE TAKES UP REPORT OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

CAT
28th session
13 May 2002
Morning



Members Question Government Delegation on Allegations
of High Rate of Police Abuse of Detainees;
Army Violence against Civilians in Chechnya



The Committee against Torture began its review this morning of a third periodic report of the Russian Federation, querying Government representatives on reports that as many as half of pre-trial detainees were maltreated by police officers and that as many as 60 per cent were not ultimately convicted, suggesting that large numbers were being held in custody without sufficient reason.
Committee members also asked about alleged violence against women detainees; about allowable lengths of detention; about how often complaints of torture or ill treatment resulted in investigations and prosecutions; about reported abuses in the course of military discipline; and about extensive allegations of maltreatment by Army personnel against civilians in Chechnya, including rapes and summary executions.
The Russian report was introduced by Yuri Kalinin, Deputy Minister of Justice, who said among other things that wide-ranging legal reforms were under way; that a Criminal Procedural Code had been adopted in 2001 and would come into force on 1 July of this year; and that a draft law had been proposed that would clarify a definition of torture and set punishments for the crime.
Other members of the Russian delegation were Yuri Rybakov, Deputy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly; Valeri Mishin, Deputy Director of Department, Office of the Procurator General; Oleg Malguinov, Deputy Director, Department of Human Rights and Compatriot Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Alexander Bavykin, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations Office at Geneva; and Vladimir Parshikov, Senior Counsellor at the Mission.
These officials will respond to the Committee's questions at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, 14 May.
Russia, as one of the 129 States parties to the Convention against Torture, must provide the Committee -- a panel of 10 independent experts -- with periodic summations of national efforts to eradicate torture and ill treatment.
The Committee will reconvene at 3 p.m. to offer its conclusions and recommendations on a fourth periodic report of Norway.

Report of the Russian Federation
The third periodic report of the Russian Federation (CAT/C/34/Add.15) provides new information relating to various articles of the Convention. It remarks among other things that the Constitution of the Russian Federation provides that "No one shall be subjected to torture, violence or other cruel or degrading treatment or punishment"; that while "Russian criminal law contains no definition as such of the concept of 'torture,' the term 'torture' does, however, appear in a number of articles" and such articles prescribe criminal liability for any type of unlawful act involving physical or psychological abuse; that the country's new Criminal Code, adopted in 1997, provides for criminal liability not only in the event of an official's use of torture "but also in the event of torture in a domestic context"; that the country's Police Act states that "The police shall not have recourse to torture, violence or other cruel or degrading treatment"; that a Presidential Decree that had permitted suspects to be detained for up to 30 days has been repealed; and that during the period 1998-2000, the internal affairs agencies' security units received 78,219 complaints against the actions of employees of the agencies, resulting in 44,389 internal investigations, and the calling to various forms of account of 17,193 employees of whom 4,598 were dismissed and 1,134 were demoted.
An interdepartmental task force is focusing on preventing "hazing" in the military, according to the report; pre-trial detention of criminal suspects is allowed for up to six months if it is found it is not possible to complete an investigation sooner and when the individual concerned has committed a serious or particularly serious offence, and in exceptional cases for one year, if authorized by the Deputy Procurator-General or 18 months if authorized by the Procurator-General; and a fourth Joint Programme agreement was signed at the end of 1999 with the Council of Europe and the European Commission on human rights matters, including cooperation in publicizing human rights issues; training of judges; development of the institution of human rights commissioner in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation; and the training of young parliamentarians and federal and regional officials.

Introduction of Report
YURI KALININ, Deputy Minister of Justice of the Russian Federation, said legal reform was being carried out to bring legislation into compliance with international human rights standards; among the changes were measures affecting the police force and detention regimes. A new Criminal Procedural Code was adopted in 2001 and would come into force on 1 July of this year; among other things it aimed at securing the independence of judges, judicial control over actions by the procurator's office, and at making the criminal justice system not only a tool for fighting crime but a tool for protecting the rights of citizens, including those who were under criminal investigation. The Code laid down clear rights and rules for the treatment of suspects, and there was clear separation of the prosecution from the courts. Courts could not carry out investigations under the Code; but they could make decisions ordering the release of persons held in detention or the termination of investigations if they felt it appropriate.
Under the Code, only courts could allow a suspect to be held for more than 48 hours, Mr. Kalinin said; detention was only to be authorized by the court for serious offences and if there was no alternative, and house arrest was to be employed as an option. The President of the Russian Federation had put before the Duma a package of other draft bills to improve the judicial system; among them were measures to clarify the status of judges; and measures on lawyers to ensure that citizens received qualified legal advice as laid down in the Russian Constitution. A draft law had been prepared to clarify the definition of torture and set punishments for it; a draft law would reduce periods of detention and the types of offence for which it could be imposed; and a Presidential decree had placed a moratorium on the death penalty. A Commission for Granting of Pardons had been established, and the penitentiary system had been placed under the control of the Ministry of Justice. Systems of alternative punishment for minor crimes and first-time offenders had been introduced, and the prison population as a result had been reduced in 2001 by some 100,000, although overcrowding remained a problem. A system had been set up for the inspection of prisons and places of detention and reforms were in train to reduce problems of maltreatment, violence and crime in the armed forces.
Given the social and political situation in Chechnya, Mr. Kalinin said, a number of measures had been taken to ensure that all reports of violations of human rights were investigated; in each case a fact-finding mission was carried out and when appropriate, prosecutions followed; specialized law-enforcement bodies had been set up for the North Caucasus, both civilian and military, and efforts were being made to ensure that law and order were respected both by army troops and the staff of regional law-enforcement agencies. Currently there were 12 courts, including a Supreme Court, operating in the region; particularly serious cases probably would be taken on by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.

Discussion
Serving as rapporteur and co-rapporteur respectively on the report of the Russian Federation were Committee members FELICE GAER and OLE VEDEL RASMUSSEN. They put a number of questions to which the Russian delegation will respond beginning at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, 14 May.
Ms. Gaer said among other things that the verbal update given by the Russian delegation had been valuable, as it had concerned some actions taken based on past Committee recommendations; and that reports received by the Committee of incidents of torture or maltreatment of detainees "were staggering".
She asked, among other things, if torture had been criminalized appropriately in accordance with the Convention, as a precise definition still seemed to be lacking and torture did not appear to be a crime except as an aggravating circumstance; if any aspect of the Code of Criminal Procedure referred specifically to torture, as opposed to, say, "grievous bodily harm"; if a draft article that did refer to torture had been criticized by the Government when it was introduced before the Duma; if, as reported, up to 60 per cent of pre-trial detainees were not in the end sentenced, suggesting that large numbers of persons were being detained without sufficient reason; if, as alleged, violence was used against women in custody and few, if any, investigations were mounted as a result; if violence against women in custody was monitored; if sexual violence against prisoners was monitored; if, as alleged by judges, roughly one-half of detainees charged they were maltreated, usually by beating administered by police officers; if refusal to confess, as alleged, produced a high possibility of a beating; and if promotion of police officers was based on obtaining confessions, thus making it in the interests of policemen to obtain confessions through brutal means.
Ms. Gaer asked about precise allowable lengths of pre-trial detention -- if the standard was simply 48 hours under the new Code or if there were exceptions; if a judge could keep extending limits of pre-trial detention, as it had been alleged that there were incidents of pre-trial detention that had gone on for years; if military judges were fearful of giving rulings likely to be unpopular with military commanders, as they thought it could damage their careers; at what point a detainee had the right to a lawyer, a doctor, and family members; if administrative detention without judicial supervision was used; if complaints of torture were frequently stranded, as alleged, in circles of requests between courts and prosecutors' offices or dismissed without explanation or subjected to investigations that were never concluded; and if there was a single case where the Russian Government had refused to extradite a person because there were substantial grounds the person would be subjected to torture.
Ms. Gaer asked if widespread abuses, including rape, sexual violence, and summary executions, as reported, were being committed by the Army against Chechen civilians, among other things during security sweeps; if "forced interrogation", supposedly a euphemism for torture, was used by the military in Chechnya; and if a functioning system existed to investigate and prosecute the thousands of claims of torture, killing and maltreatment by the army in Chechnya.
Mr. Rasmussen said the Government had made impressive progress in reducing Russia's prison population. He asked, among other things, if military personnel, including military doctors, were trained in recognizing and preventing torture; if prison medical personnel were taught how to document torture, including through use of the Istanbul Protocol; if 30 days of administrative detention were still allowed in isolated cells in some cases; and if the Government would enact a recommendation of the human rights Ombudsman that medical personnel dealing with prisoners and detainees should be made independent of the Ministries of Justice and Health.
Mr. Rasmussen asked how many visits the new prison-monitoring system was carrying out, and how the system coordinated its work with that of the Ombudsman and the Office of the Procurator-General; if the system of isolation holding cells under the Ministry of Internal Affairs might be discontinued or at a minimum placed under the Ministry of Justice; if an investigation of the Procurator-General had resulted in the release of a large number of persons illegally detained and if those persons had received any compensation and if any officials had been dismissed or otherwise punished; and if the persons charged with bringing complaints of maltreatment in prison to the attention of the Procurator were often those charged with the maltreatment.
Mr. Rasmussen also asked several questions about the situation in Chechnya, including whether prompt and impartial investigations had been carried out into specific allegations of torture and what was being done in response to the discovery of several mass graves.
And he asked about reported unacceptable conditions in orphanages and psychiatric hospitals; about apparent occasions when juvenile offenders were kept in cells with adult prisoners; and if the Government was following the recommendations of the World Health Organization on prevention of tuberculosis in prison, as an estimated 10 per cent of prisoners were infected.
Other Committee members also put questions. They asked among other things about reported delays or a lack of investigations entirely into cases of disappearances in Chechnya; about allegations that persons were refouled arbitrarily to other countries without sufficient consideration of their requests for asylum or of whether refoulement would expose them to torture; how the Government dealt with abandoned children; and if amnesty provisions applied to conduct that amounted to torture. And they pointed to positive steps, among them suspension of the death penalty and the shifting of control of the prison system from the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the Ministry of Justice.



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