Attachments
Seventy-ninth session
Agenda item 71 (c)
Promotion and protection of human rights: human rights
situations and reports of special rapporteurs and representatives
Note by the Secretary-General*
The Secretary-General has the honour to transmit to the General Assembly the report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation, Mariana Katzarova, submitted in accordance with Human Rights Council resolution 54/23.
Torture in the Russian Federation: a tool for repression at home and aggression abroad
Summary
In the present report, the widespread and systematic use of torture and ill-treatment, committed with impunity in the Russian Federation, is examined. The report highlights the shortcomings in Russian legislation, including the lack of a specific legal framework addressing torture and ill-treatment, the inadequate judicial response, and the systemic issues that enable human rights abuses. The analysis covers enforcement and accountability deficiencies. The report concludes with recommendations for aligning Russian legislation and practices with international human rights standards.
I. Introduction
1. The present report is submitted to the General Assembly pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 54/23.
2. The report documents how torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment are used as State-sanctioned tools for systemic oppression in the Russian Federation. In particular, they are used extensively by law enforcement authorities to stifle dissent and are rife in police custody and administrative detention, including for the purpose of extracting confessions during initial detention. They are infamous features of the Russian penitentiary system.
3. The analysis sheds light on the deficiencies of the Russian legislative framework, which does not adequately criminalize torture and lacks provisions for appropriate accountability, enabling law enforcement and prison authorities to carry out such offences with impunity. It reveals the wide variety of brutal methods used that are designed not just to punish but also to purposefully humiliate and inflict lasting injuries, both psychological and physical, or even death. These methods are used by law enforcement, prison guards or inmates acting under orders and with the complicity of government authorities. Psychological torture in prisons, including by subjecting detainees to prolonged solitary confinement in a punishment isolation cell (SHIZO), or banishment to a psychiatric ward, can lead to death.
4. In the report, the Special Rapporteur explores the link between violence committed by private individuals and State complicity due to the absence of necessary legal protections, including against domestic violence, or effective response mechanisms.
5. Of particular concern, in the current context of the Russian war against Ukraine, is the documented torture of peaceful anti-war activists and of Ukrainians forcibly transferred within Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories or deported to the Russian Federation.