Installation, pickets and a martial arts festival. 26 June – International Day in Support of Victims of Torture

On 26 и 29 June the Committee Against Torture will perform a number of activities dedicated to the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. The activities will take place in Nizhny Novgorod, Moscow, Orenburg, Anapa, Pyatigorsk and Ufa.

The activities aim at informing the public on the necessity of observing the national legislation and international obligations on preventing of torture and other types of brutal, inhumane and degrading treatment.

On 26 June at 12.00 at “Masterksaya na Kulishkah” (“Workshop at Kulishki”) (Moscow, Bolshoy Spasoglinischevsky per.3, building 5) installation “Bezlikiye Golosa” (“Faceless voices”) will be opened. It is prepared jointly by Amnesty International and the Committee Against Torture. The authors of the installation offer the audience to reflect on issues of truth, justice and manipulation techniques of the XXI century. Real stories from people who experienced tortures, as well as their relatives, will be heard. The event will last till 9 p.m. The entrance is free.

“The created installation offers to be exposed to experience, to get involved to some point in it and to try to understand what devastation anyone who passed through such calamities runs into. Accept the person and his trauma, feel involvement and responsibility for universal human striving for deliverance from various punitive and correctional practices”, –organizers emphasize.

On the same day, in Nizhny Novgorod “Podsobka” bar (Piskounova St., 30) “Far South” film of the Committee Against Torture will be shown. It is a story about a life of four citizens of Anapa, who were subjected to torture at the police department three years ago. As in happens in many cases like this, the police lawlessness had a painful impact not only on the victims themselves, but also on their families, too, driving each and every participant of these events to complete despair. Start at 20.00. The entrance is free.

In addition, on 26 June, the pickets involving human rights defenders, torture victims’ relatives, as well as all who are not indifferent to this problem will take place in Orenburg, Ufa and Anapa.

In Orenburg the picket will take place in the park named after Osipenko. Start at 5 p.m.

In Ufa we wait all non-indifferent people at the square next to the Sports Palace. Start at 12.00.

In Anapa the picket was also planned in the park near the Prosecutor’s Office, however, the city administration informed that “the housing services and utilities department previously planned some landscaping and sanitary-epidemiological environment improvement activities at this location”, due to this a different location for the picket was offered.

“They offered us to conduct our picket on the territory of the “Orekhovaya Roscha” park, but this location is not acceptable for us, because it is at the outskirts of the city and there are practically no people there. That is why we decided to conduct a series of one-man pickets in the center of the city”, – lawyer with the Committee Against Torture Sergey Romanov comments.

In Pyatigorsk, on 26 June, in “Toon” gastro bar (pr. 40 Let Oktyabrya, 89А) “Far South” film will be shown and the work of the Committee Against Torture in North Caucasus will be discussed. Start at 6 p.m. The entrance is free.

On 29 June, in Nizhny Novgorod at the square next to monument Boat “Hero”, I-st Festival of Martial Arts dedicated to the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture was held. This event was organized by INGO “The Committee Against Torture”, NRO FSO “National Federation of Martial Arts”, The Nizhny Novgorod region Pankration Federation, the Nizhny Novgorod Sports & Patriotic Non-Governmental Organization “The Sword and the Shield”.

In the framework of the festival ten fights in different sports disciplines will take place: karate, freestyle wrestling, boxing, Thai boxing, pankration (grappling). The festival will start at 3 p.m. and will last till 7 p.m. The entrance is free.

“Force can be applied only in strict accordance with the rules and laws – that’s the main idea and a refrain of this sports event. If judges, coaches and the principles of martial arts demand that from professional sportsmen, then the society has a right to demand the same from law-enforcement officers – to comply with the law when applying physical force, not allowing tortures or degrading treatment”, – one of the organizers of the Festival, human rights defender with the Committee Against Torture Sergey Shounin emphasizes.

As we have previously reported, in 1997, upon the recommendation of the Economic and Social Council, the UN General Assembly proclaimed the 26th of June the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. This day is dedicated to attracting the public attention to the necessity of eradicating torture and ensuring the implementation of the provisions of the Convention Against Torture and other brutal and inhumane or degrading types of treatment and punishment dated 1984, which came into force on 26 June 1987.