On 29 November 2013 presentation and discussion of the report «The Multiple Faces of Torture» will be held at the Central House of Artists press-center within the frame program of the 15th International Book Fair for High-Quality Non-Fiction. The report was prepared by French Christian organization against torture ACAT in collaboration with the Committee Against Torture and the Public Verdict Foundation.
The discussion will focus on the research into the problems of torture in Russian police and penitentiary institutions. The report prepared by human rights defenders analyzes the government proposed reforms and possible inaction in preventing this malpractice. The report analyzes the obstacles to conducting investigation and to administration of justice, as well as the work carried out by civil society for the prevention of torture.
At the presentation you will meet:
Anne Le Huérou (France, ACAT), a sociologist (PhD) at the CERCEC (Centre d’Etudes des mondes Russe, Caucasien et Est-européen, EHESS/CNRS) in Paris, an associate researcher at Russian studies at University Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense, coordinator of the project «Understanding Violence in Russia».
Natalia Taubina, director of the Public Verdict Foundation (Moscow, Russia).
Igor Kalyapin, the Chairman of the Interregional NGO «Committe Against Torture» (Nizhny Novgorod, Russia).
The authors of the study report, that torture is systemic in the country’s police institutions. It is widely used in police custody against individuals who have been arrested or, rightly or wrongly, are suspected of an offense. Its purpose is to quickly secure confessions. In Russian detention facilities and penal colonies the torture phenomenon is today commonplace. Responsibility for torture carried out in detention either falls to the administration – arbitrary disciplinary sanctions, punitive operations carried out by special units, and access to care deliberately denied – or to fellow detainees acting at the instigation or with the consent of the penitentiary authorities. The authors of the study apply a particularly thorough scrutiny to the problem of torture in the Chechen Republic. The study leads to the conclusion that the deeply rooted malpractice is the result of faulty legal system and ineffective administration of the law.
The presentation will take place on 29 November from 5 to 7 pm at the Central House of Artists press-center (10 Krimsky val, Moscow). Please be informed that the presentation is free for visitors of the Fair (information on the Fair entrance fee is given on the Fair official website).
Those who come to participate in the discussion will receive free paper versions of the study «The Multiple Faces of Torture».