Russian NGO Shadow Report on the Observance of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment by the Russian Federation for the period from 2001 to 2005 Moscow, May 2006 CONTENT Introduction .......................................................................................................................................4 Summary...........................................................................................................................................5 Article 2 ..........................................................................................................................................14 Measures taken to improve the conditions in detention facilities .............................................14 Measures to improve the situation in penal institutions and protection of prisoners’ human rights ..........................................................................................................................................15 Measures taken to improve the situation in temporary isolation wards of the Russian Ministry for Internal Affairs and other custodial places ..........................................................................16 Measures taken to prevent torture and cruel and depredating treatment in work of police and other law-enforcement institutions ............................................................................................16 Measures taken to prevent cruel treatment in the armed forces ................................................17 Article 3 ..........................................................................................................................................18 Asylum provisions and protection from torture in Russia ................................................................18 Political Asylum: policies and practices.........................................................................................18 Refugee status and temporary asylum: rules and regulations ...........................................................19 Practices of granting refugee status and temporary asylum in Russia ...............................................19 Expulsion and deportation. Compliance with the protection against torture principle ........................22 Extradition of suspects, accused and convicted persons from Russia, and compliance with the protection against torture principle ................................................................................................25 Article 4 ..........................................................................................................................................29 Article 10 ........................................................................................................................................32 Article 11 ........................................................................................................................................34 Disproportionate and indiscriminative use of force and firearms in the course of apprehension, suppression of unlawful activities and maintenance of public order .................................................34 Detainees’ rights ..........................................................................................................................36 Falsification of reasons for detention .............................................................................................36 Impeding detainees’ contacts with lawyers and relatives .................................................................38 Use of arrest ................................................................................................................................40 Treatment of prisoners in penitentiary institutions ..........................................................................42 Ensuring precise recording of the time of detention ........................................................................44 Implementation of the suspect’s and the accused right to the lawyer ................................................46 Conditions of transportation of SIZO inmates to the courts and their confinement in the court convoy facilities.......................................................................................................................................47 Protection of rights of the suspects and the accused when they are confined at PRFS facilities ..........49 Article 12 ........................................................................................................................................50 Responding to evidence of torture .................................................................................................51 Investigation into alleged incidents of torture .................................................................................54 Non-compliance with the principle of thorough investigation..........................................................55 Unjustified delay of investigation..................................................................................................55 Biased evidence assessment, unfounded decisions in torture cases...................................................56 Absence of legal remedies against failure to conduct an effective investigation; throwing the victim back and forth between authorities (‘ping pong’)............................................................................57 Impartiality of investigation ..........................................................................................................58 Investigation of torture in penitentiary institutions..........................................................................59 Investigation of torture in the armed forces ....................................................................................60 Article 13 ........................................................................................................................................62 The right to file a complaint against torture....................................................................................62 Practical possibility to file a complaint against torture; difficulties which occur................................64 Examination of complaints against torture and cruel treatment: cases of ungrounded denials.............68 Access of applicants to investigation .............................................................................................70 Ensuring security of the victim and witnesses.................................................................................71 2 Article 14 ........................................................................................................................................73 Rehabilitation of victims of unlawful criminal prosecution and its correlation with rehabilitation of torture victims..............................................................................................................................74 The right of torture victims to compensation, and access to compensation procedure ........................75 The practice of compensation awards in torture cases .....................................................................76 Problems with enforcing compensations awarded by courts ............................................................77 Article 15 ........................................................................................................................................77 Article 16 ........................................................................................................................................81 Conditions of detention in pre-trial detention centers (SIZO)...........................................................82 The problem of SIZOs’ overcrowding still remains ........................................................................82 Bad conditions in SIZOs...............................................................................................................83 Situation in correctional institutions...............................................................................................84 Premises of correctional institutions ..............................................................................................85 Sanitary and hygienic conditions...................................................................................................85 Food rations.................................................................................................................................86 Labor conditions ..........................................................................................................................86 Medical treatment ........................................................................................................................87 Social adaptation of the convicts ...................................................................................................88 Situation of the vulnerable categories of prisoners ..........................................................................89 Temporary detention isolators (IVS) of the Ministry of Interior: conditions of detention ...................90 Conditions in accommodation and holding centers for immigrants...................................................92 Living Conditions in the Military Service ......................................................................................93 Detoxification Centers..................................................................................................................96