Russian Police Essay, Research Paper
Russian police routinely torture or abuse as many as half of their suspects, often using electroshock and asphyxiation techniques, a new study says.
A two-year investigation by Human Rights Watch, an independent New York-based
group, found disturbing evidence that Russian police are torturing suspects
with almost complete impunity while prosecutors are closing their eyes to the
widespread practice.
There is overwhelming evidence that “torture has become an integral part of
police practice,”
The group reached this conclusion after interviewing more than 50 victims in
five regions of Russia. It also interviewed dozens of judges, lawyers,
prosecutors, former police officers, and relatives of the torture victims.
Some experts cited in the report say the use of torture techniques has
increased dramatically in the past 10 years.
“The courts commonly accept forced confessions at face value, and use them as
a basis for convictions,” “Some former police officers said they believe it is impossible to solve crimes without torture.”
The prolonged beating of suspects is the most common form of police torture
in Russia. But police also use several other elaborate torture techniques.
In one technique, a suspect is handcuffed to a chair while a gas mask or
plastic bag is placed over his head and his oxygen supply is cut off. The
technique is known as “the elephant” because the gas mask’s hose resembles an
elephant’s trunk. One detainee in the town of Saransk died as a result of
this torture.
In the electroshock technique, police use a hand-cranked machine that
resembles an old-fashioned field telephone. An electric current is
transmitted by electrodes clamped to the suspect’s ears.
In another position, known as the “envelope,” the detainee is forced to sit
with his head between his bent knees, with his hands tied to his feet. A
suspect in the city of Nizhni Novgorod died after being held in this position
and subjected to sustained beatings, the report says. A forensic examination
found 40 bruises from nightsticks on his body.
In the “swallow” position, the victim’s hands are handcuffed behind him and
attached to an iron pipe, so that he is suspended above the ground, while the
police beat him.
The police also routinely use intense psychological pressure, threats of
violence and threats to the suspect’s family.
They usually refuse to allow suspects to have access to a lawyer. Some of the tortured
suspects are as young as 14 or 15.
In many cases, police put a suspect into the same cell as a
trusted prisoner, who serves as a police enforcer by beating or raping the
suspect in exchange for special privileges.
The investigation found four cases in which a suspect leaped or fell from
police windows, usually to escape torture. One died and two were crippled for
life.
Most torture victims are unable to get access to doctors or forensic experts
to document their injuries. Many doctors, afraid of the police, are reluctant
to examine torture victims. “As a result, medical evidence of torture is
almost always lost”
Even when a suspect is able to present evidence of torture, most courts and
prosecutors ignore this evidence, the report says. Convictions are often
based on coerced testimony, it says, and confessions based on coercion are
rarely excluded from a trial’s evidence.
One of the most shocking cases recounted is that of Sergei Mikhailov, a
26-year-old in northern Russia who was arrested in 1994 and accused of the
murder of a young girl. He said he was beaten for 10 days and threatened with
rape until he signed a confession.
Although he withdrew the confession after he gained access to a lawyer, he
was convicted and sentenced to death. A year later, another man confessed to
the murder.
A special state investigator concluded in 1997 that Mr. Mikhailov was wrongly
convicted, but the state prosecutor has not yet taken steps to overturn the
conviction. Mr. Mikhailov, who spent more than four years in a death-row cell
and has tried to commit suicide several times, is still in prison.
Most Russians appear to be fully aware of the risk of torture or abuse at the
hands of the police. About 60 per cent of crime victims do not report the
crimes.