Sat Nov 25, 2006 8:22 AM IST
http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-11-25T081135Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-277706-1.xml&archived=False
By Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA (Reuters) - A U.N. human rights body said on Friday it had received consistent allegations of torture by Russian forces, including in secret detention centres in Chechnya.
The United Nations Committee against Torture called on Russia to investigate and prosecute all allegations of torture, including "hazing" in the military which it said was carried out with widespread impunity, and report back in a year.
The committee referred to "widespread use of torture" in Russia and expressed concern at "the particularly numerous, ongoing and consistent allegations of acts of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment committed by law enforcement personnel, including in police custody".
It voiced concern at numerous allegations of abductions and disappearances in the turbulent region of Chechnya, mainly during anti-terrorist operations, as well as the widespread practice of detaining relatives of terrorism suspects.
The committee cited "reliable reports of unofficial places of detention in the North Caucasus and the allegations that those detained in such facilities face torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment".
The U.N. forum, composed of 10 independent experts, monitors compliance with a 1984 treaty banning torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Russia is among 142 states to have ratified the pact.
Its conclusions were issued at the end of a three-week meeting which examined the records of seven countries - Burundi, Guyana, Hungary, Mexico, Russia, South Africa and Tajikistan.
Hazing, or brutal bullying, and torture continues within the Russian military and victims who complain are subject to further abuse, the committee said.
Human rights groups say Russian forces and their local allies are conducting a campaign of indiscriminate violence in Chechnya under the cover of fighting an anti-Moscow insurgency.
Russian rights groups estimate there have been 3,000-5,000 disappearances in Chechnya since Russian troops moved to crush the breakaway region's self-declared independence in 1999.
Human Rights Watch, in a report submitted to the U.N. forum, said that inmates, including women and minors, were routinely tortured in both official and secret prisons across Chechnya.
Methods used to extract information from people suspected of backing rebels included beatings with cables, burning with red-hot rods and electric shocks, the New York-based group said.
The U.N. committee expressed concern at killings of journalists and human rights defenders, including the October 7 murder of the investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya who was a fierce critic of Moscow's war in the troubled region.
Her last article, published after her murder, was an account from a Chechen man who said police passed electric shocks through his fingers until he confessed to terrorism.
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
China official admits to torture
China official admits to torture
Monday, 20 November 2006,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6164408.stm
A senior Chinese official has made a rare admission about the extent of the use of torture in getting convictions in China's courts.
Wang Zhenchuan, Deputy Procurator General, said at least 30 wrong verdicts were handed down each year because torture had been used.
Mr Wang said the real number could be higher, according to state media.
Confidence in China's justice system has been seriously undermined by recent high-profile wrongful convictions.
A butcher executed for murder in 1989 was proved innocent when his alleged victim was found alive, while a man was freed after 11 years in jail when his wife, whom he was accused of killing, was also found alive.
Mr Wang's unusually frank comments appeared to be part of a campaign to tackle problems in the judicial system, and shore up public trust.
He said suspects' rights needed to be protected by stopping the use of illegal interrogations involving the use of torture.
He said illegal interrogation existed to "some extent" in local judicial practice.
"Nearly every wrongful verdict in recent years is involved in illegal interrogation," he said, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
Change of tack
China outlawed torture in 1996, but a UN special envoy on torture, Manfred Nowak, said last year it remained widespread.
Mr Nowak, who spent two weeks in the country, said torture methods included electric shock batons, cigarette burns, and submersion in pits of water or sewage.
China rarely admits publicly to weaknesses in its judicial system.
But correspondents say the recent high-profile mistakes appear to have prompted a change of thinking.
In January, Mr Wang said China was to begin recording police interviews in workplace-related crimes to stop confessions being extracted through torture.
And last month, China's parliament approved a law allowing only the country's top court to approve death sentences - a move designed to stop serious abuses in lower level courts.
Monday, 20 November 2006,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6164408.stm
A senior Chinese official has made a rare admission about the extent of the use of torture in getting convictions in China's courts.
Wang Zhenchuan, Deputy Procurator General, said at least 30 wrong verdicts were handed down each year because torture had been used.
Mr Wang said the real number could be higher, according to state media.
Confidence in China's justice system has been seriously undermined by recent high-profile wrongful convictions.
A butcher executed for murder in 1989 was proved innocent when his alleged victim was found alive, while a man was freed after 11 years in jail when his wife, whom he was accused of killing, was also found alive.
Mr Wang's unusually frank comments appeared to be part of a campaign to tackle problems in the judicial system, and shore up public trust.
He said suspects' rights needed to be protected by stopping the use of illegal interrogations involving the use of torture.
He said illegal interrogation existed to "some extent" in local judicial practice.
"Nearly every wrongful verdict in recent years is involved in illegal interrogation," he said, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
Change of tack
China outlawed torture in 1996, but a UN special envoy on torture, Manfred Nowak, said last year it remained widespread.
Mr Nowak, who spent two weeks in the country, said torture methods included electric shock batons, cigarette burns, and submersion in pits of water or sewage.
China rarely admits publicly to weaknesses in its judicial system.
But correspondents say the recent high-profile mistakes appear to have prompted a change of thinking.
In January, Mr Wang said China was to begin recording police interviews in workplace-related crimes to stop confessions being extracted through torture.
And last month, China's parliament approved a law allowing only the country's top court to approve death sentences - a move designed to stop serious abuses in lower level courts.
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