In 1997, upon the recommendation of the Economic and Social Council, the UN General Assembly proclaimed June 26 International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.
This day is observed with the purpose of ending torture and ensuring effective implementation of the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment of 1984 which entered into force on June 26, 1987.
The Interregional Committee Against Torture organizes events to commemorate this day in all regions where it has its branches.
On June 24 there will be a picket in Grozny. It is expected that several dozens of people will take part in the picket, including human rights defenders, torture victims from Chechnya and relatives of abducted Chechen residents. During the picket it is planned to attract the attention of the authorities and public to these more that burning problems which are being ignored on the official level.
On June 26 at 12.00 in Yoshkar-Ola in the Republican Museum of GULAG History located at the address: 102 Sovietskaya Street there will be an educational event devoted to the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. Workers of the Mariy El representation of the Interregional Committee Against Torture will organize a book exhibition, broadcast of a movie on the problem of tortures and deliver a lecture on available mechanisms of human rights protection.
On 27 June in Nizhny Novgorod between 15.00 and 18.00 in SHIZGARA club (20 Rozhdestvenskaya Street) there will be a discussion with the participation of staff members of the Nizhny Novgorod office of the ICAT, members of the Nizhny Novgorod Regional Public Monitoring Commission, representatives of human rights NGOs and movements. Victims of police abuse are also invited to participate in the discussion. The topic of the event is “The burning problem of torture and unlawful violence in
Nizhny Novgorod region and ways of solving it.” A short film on the problem of tortures will be broadcast during the event. All participants will have a chance to take the floor and ask their questions.
On the same day, June 27, a similar event will take place in Orenburg (between 15.00 and 17.00 in Dolce Vita Cafe at the address: 21 Krasnoznamennaya Street) and Ufa(at 15.00 in Tealtralnoe Cafe in the Bashkirian Opera and Ballet Theater at the address: 5/1 Lenina Street).
Organizers of these events will be glad to welcome all citizens interested in the problem, law enforcement agents and representatives of other state bodies, as well as mass media.
You can ask relevant offices of the ICAT your questions regarding participation in the described events:
Nizhny Novgorod: (831) 433-14-04 (Oleg Khabibrakhmanov)
Orenburg: (3532) 77-50-88 (Vyacheslav Dyundin)
Ufa: (917) 441-28-84 (Rustem Abdrakhmanov)
Yoshkar-Ola: (927) 870-62-60 (Dmitry Yalikov)
Grozny: (8722) 22-31-83 (Ayzan Amsadova)