In Russia, not a single sentence was passed in an hour under the new article on torture

Russian courts have not handed down a single sentence under the toughened article for torture, which provides for up to 15 years of imprisonment, since it was introduced last summer. This was reported by the Team Against Torture with reference to the data of the judicial department.

The concept of “torture” appeared in the legislation in the summer of last year in two parts of the article on “exceeding official powers”.

According to the law, the purposes of torture include intimidation as a way of controlling the prisoner’s personality or forcing another person to commit any actions under the threat of torture.

In addition to the article on excess of powers, amendments were made to the article on torture: it was presented in a new edition, which provides for increased responsibility for torture with personal cruelty, mockery of the victim or his torture.

Despite the regular statements of victims of torture by employees of the FSIN, Russian special services and law enforcement agencies, they – if judged – continue to be tried for “exceeding their powers” or “illegal use of violence or special means.” In the first six months of 2023, the courts sentenced 208 law enforcement and military personnel under these articles.

“The lack of convictions can also be attributed to the fact that only an hour has passed since the adoption of the new version of the law. According to the research “Arithmetic of Torture”, from the moment of the event until law enforcement officials are brought to justice, it takes an average of 3 years,” the project’s message says .

• In December 2021, the State Duma adopted a bill on increasing the punishment for law enforcement officers for torture. Before that, the Gulagu.net project published two parts of the FSIN archive with records of torture of prisoners. The first part mainly concerned torture in Saratov OTB-1, the second – violence against prisoners in Krasnoyarsk IK-17. After the publication of the torture video, the SC initiated several criminal cases, and the head of the FSIN, Alexander Kalashnikov, and his deputy, Anatoly Yakunin, were fired.
• The “Committee Against Torture” and the “Public Verdict” Foundation suggested that the State Duma consider an alternative draft law on torture. According to human rights defenders, the norms of the adopted document are not able to drastically affect the problem.