Special Rapporteur exposes torture in Russia as a tool for repression at home and aggression abroad

NEW YORK — In her first thematic report to the General Assembly, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation, Mariana Katzarova, revealed the State’s complicity and encouragement of widespread and systematic torture and ill-treatment.

“Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, torture has become a State-sanctioned tool of systematic oppression, used to control and to stifle dissent, and attack the foundations of human rights and civic space in Russia,” the UN expert said.

Key findings highlighted the lack of a distinct criminal offense of torture in Russian law, with acts of torture prosecuted as lesser offences, thus failing to provide adequate penalties commensurate with the crime of torture and redress for victims.

“Russia’s law enforcement, security services, and military employ a wide range of methods of torture, many of which have notorious names that bring horror to survivors,” said Katzarova. “They include mock executions known as “Rasstrel”, cruel beatings called “Priyomka”, rape, prolonged solitary confinement, as well as punitive psychiatry. Victims endured lengthy bouts of electric shocks to sensitive areas, including the genitals, by using a modified field military telephone known as tapik, in methods dubbed a “Call to a friend” or “Call to Putin”. These are just a few examples of torture methods aimed at inflicting severe physical and psychological pain.”

The report emphasised the impact of torture on political prisoners, human rights and anti-war activists, conscientious objectors and mobilised men, lawyers, journalists, LGBT persons, migrants and asylum seekers, Indigenous Peoples and national minorities, as well as women and girls.

“The State’s complicity in crimes against women and girls, including honour killings and female genital mutilation, entrenches the violence they face, especially in Chechnya and North Caucasus region, where such practices are common. In Chechnya, LGBT persons face extreme violence, including enforced disappearances and State-sanctioned torture in secret detention facilities. On release, their families are asked to kill them with impunity in honour killings. These practices signal the Russian State’s disregard and violation of international human rights standards,” the expert said.

Courts routinely ignore credible reports of torture, siding with perpetrators rather than upholding justice. Such unchecked impunity has “normalized” torture within Russian society, where violence is tolerated and even encouraged, following the March 2024 terrorist attack in Moscow when the suspects were shown being tortured on national television.

“The use of torture is not only a domestic issue but has profound implications for international peace and security. Hundreds of Ukrainian detainees, including civilians and prisoners of war, are being forcibly transferred within Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine or deported to the Russian Federation, where they are held incommunicado and tortured for information or as punishment. All Ukrainian detainees in Russian prisons should be immediately released and returned to Ukraine.”

“I call on the Russian authorities to embark on fundamental reforms to establish an effective system of accountability to end impunity for torture and ill-treatment and urge the international community to exercise domestic criminal jurisdiction, including universal jurisdiction, to prosecute allegations of torture against individuals in Russia,” said Katzarova.