The Committee Against Torture has received an application from Igor Veselov’s mother claiming that her son was subjected to sophisticated tortures by local security service officers.

   According to Igor Veselov, he was detained by officers of the Nizhny Novgorod Federal Security Service Administration on 19 September 2010. The state agents did not tell him the official reason for his detention but wanted him to confess to drug trafficking.  

As Veselov has told an ICAT lawyer, the FSS staff took him to the Nizhny Novgorod office and, having failed to obtain a confession from him, started torturing him. Only on September 23 Igor was taken to court which issued a decision to place him in custody.

However, according to Mr. Veselov and his parents, right from the courtroom he was again taken to the Nizhny Novgorod Federal Security Service Administration where he was tortured with electricity. Igor claims that wire clamps were attached to his head. Between electrocution sessions Veselov was beaten.

The FSS staff took the detainee to the remand prison only in the evening of September 23, 2010, a corresponding record was made in the remand prison log. There Igor was examined by a doctor who documented his injuries in the locations where wires had allegedly been fixed.  

At present, Igor Veselov is in the remand prison. The Interregional Committee Against Torture is going to thoroughly check Mr. Veselov’s allegations, ensure investigation of the claim and, in case the facts contained in the application are confirmed, identification and prosecution of perpetrators. The ICAT has applied to the investigation authorities requesting a check.