AP News, March 13th, 2007
Russia's war-scarred Chechnya region continues to be plagued by torture and unlawful detentions, with human rights violations rarely investigated, a European anti-torture committee said Tuesday.
The Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture, which visited detention facilities in Chechnya twice in 2006, said in a report it was "deeply concerned" by the extent of torture and other forms of ill-treatment by law enforcement officials and security forces.
"It is clear that investigations into cases involving allegations of ill-treatment or unlawful detention are still rarely carried out," the report said.
The committee said the Russian government had refused to respond to its findings and failed to cooperate with the committee, which has unlimited access to all detention facilities in the Council of Europe's 46 member states, including Russia.
Russian and Chechen officials have consistently denied that abuses occur in the predominantly Muslim region.
The committee said it had spoken to a number of people in Chechnya who described being unlawfully detained. It also cited medical evidence gathered during its visits in April and November that revealed inmates were beaten, burned and, in some cases, given electric shocks.
Chechnya has been torn by two wars pitting Russian forces and local allies against separatist rebels in the past 12 years. A Kremlin-backed government is in power and large-scale battles are now rare, but fighting persists.
An estimated 100,000 civilians, soldiers and insurgents have died in the two conflicts. Human rights groups have also reported mass disappearances, blaming them on pro-Moscow Chechen security forces and Russian troops.
