The International Day in Support of Victims of Torture reminded us of the need to protect the rights of victims.

Authorities prefer to keep torture under wraps, and in cases that do come to light, it takes years to bring law enforcement officers to justice, according to stories from torture victims in southern Russia. The "26 Rubles Against Torture" campaign, timed to coincide with the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, has already raised over 800,000 rubles.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot," torture victims and their families have been facing the consequences of violence for years, and court proceedings are also protracted, according to stories from victims in Kuban, Rostov Oblast, Dagestan, and other southern Russian regions. A collection for legal and psychological support for victims has been launched to coincide with the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.

International Day in Support of Victims of Torture is established on June 26 – the day in 1987 that the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment entered into force. Currently, 174 states are parties to the Convention, including Russia, according to information on the UN website.

In Russia, this day is marked by a collection of funds to support victims of torture – the annual "26 Rubles Against Torture" campaign, organized by the charitable foundation "Committee Against Torture."

The goal of the campaign is to raise 2.6 million rubles for legal, medical, and psychological assistance to torture survivors and their families. The foundation's press release states that fighting in the courts and rehabilitating victims takes years and requires resources that their families lack.

You can make a single donation or sign up for a monthly subscription on the website.

As of 9:32 a.m. Moscow time, the campaign had raised 801,808 rubles out of a target of 2.6 million.

Authorities are covering up torture

In Russia, public organizations support torture victims, while authorities often pretend that torture does not exist.

For example, the Telegram channel of Mansur Soltayev, the Chechen Human Rights Commissioner, cites the actions of Ukrainian troops in the conflict zone and the execution of a prisoner in the United States using nitrogen as examples of torture.

Meanwhile, the use of torture in Chechnya has been repeatedly documented by the European Court of Human Rights. Thus, the Prosecutor General's Office and the courts refused to pay compensation for torture awarded by the ECHR to Chechen natives Zubair Idrisov and Amur Ganayev, even though the decisions on their complaints entered into force before Russia's withdrawal from the Council of Europe.

For example, Zubair Idrisov was detained in Chechnya on August 3, 2009, on suspicion of attempted murder. During interrogation, police officers demanded that Idrisov confess to the attempted murder of Magomed Daudov, then head of the Shali District Department of Internal Affairs of Chechnya. They handcuffed Idrisov, bound his ankles, suspended him from a railing, kicked and punched him, doused him with water, and administered electric shocks to force him to confess to the explosion. On September 8, 2009, an ambulance doctor examined him at the police station, finding a closed head injury and a hematoma on the back of his head. According to the complainant, the abuse continued until October 21, 2009. On April 28, 2010, Idrisov complained of abuse, but investigators refused to open a criminal investigation six times. In 2010, based on testimony extracted under torture, Idrisov was found guilty of terrorism and membership in illegal armed groups and sentenced to nine years in prison.

Amur Ganayevwas tortured into confessing to several crimes, as well as to the illegal acquisition and possession of weapons. On these charges, Ganayev was sentenced to 11 years in prison. The sentence was overturned due to significant violations, but the Supreme Court of Chechnya resentenced Ganayev – this time to six years in prison.

Many cases of prisoner deaths following torture remain uninvestigated.

Kirill Buzmakov, one of the defendants in the case of plotting to set fire to the Pyatigorsk military registration and enlistment office, died at home and was released from pretrial detention in serious condition. Buzmakov wrote to a friend that his illness was caused by torture and lack of treatment. During his arrest in the fall of 2022, Buzmakov's facial bone was broken, and he was denied any medical care for a year and a half. To conceal the signs of torture, he was not taken to the hospital and was promised treatment if he gave the necessary testimony. "In the early stages, it could have been easily cured. But, you see, they left me to rot. They refused treatment for over a year, and didn't even do a histology or biopsy," Buzmakov wrote.

On June 14, 2023, Anatoly Berezikov died in the Rostov special detention center, where he was serving his third consecutive administrative arrest following a pacifist protest. The activist's arrest was set to expire on June 15. Lawyer Irina Gak was told of his death when she came to see him. However, when Gak met with her client a few days earlier, she said he appeared healthy. The lawyer had previously documented traces of a stun gun on Berezikov. "He complained to me that he had been threatened, that he feared he would be killed... He complained that security forces had taken him out of town and tortured him with stun guns," Irina Gak said. Afterwards, due to threats of persecution, she and another activist representing Berezikov were forced to leave Russia. One example of torture cases dragging on for years is the story of Makhachkala resident Kurban Dalgatov, detained in January 2023. His health deteriorated at the police station, he was given first aid and taken to the hospital, but doctors pronounced him dead. Relatives stated that Dalgatov died of asphyxiation, which occurred after he was "inflicted with electric shocks to the heart." The man sustained injuries before his death, the Ministry of Internal Affairs confirmed. The trials have been going on for several years, and several security officials suspected of violence have already been sent to the SVO zone.

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