ECtHR communicates complaints about torture from residents of Southern Russia

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) communicated 14 complaints from citizens of Russia who were subjected to torture in the regions of the Southern Federal Districts (SFD) and North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD).

In total, the ECtHR communicated 37 complaints from Russian citizens who fell victim to torture, including Chechen oppositionist Ibragim Yangulbaev, actor Timur Debishev from Grozny, female activists from the “Marem” human rights group from Dagestan, Albert Khamkhoev from Ingushetia, and activist Aslan Iritov from Nalchik and members of his family. The complaints filed by the above-mentioned persons are planned to be considered in the nearest future, the “Kavkaz.Realii”* reports.

“Russia can ignore questions of the ECtHR, but the Court will issue its verdict in any case,” emphasizes Sergey Babinets, the head of the “Team Against Torture”**.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that Ibragim Yangulbaev, according to his story, was taken away from his house on May 22, 2017 by law enforcers who tortured him with the demand to name the personal data of members of a group on the “VKontakte” social media outlet, where the methods of work of the Chechen authorities were criticized.

In 2018, actor Timur Debishev complained that he had been tortured by law enforcers. According to his complaint, they found his mobile phone number among the contacts of a person suspected of drug trafficking, tortured him with electric current, and beat him, demanding to give up drug addicts he knew.

In 2021, female activists of the “Marem” human rights group hid Khalimat Taramova, a daughter of a Ramzan Kadyrov’s close associate. The young woman was hiding in a Makhachkala shelter for victims of domestic violence. The police broke into the apartment, used brute force on the volunteers, and handed Khalimat Taramova over to her father. Iraida Smirnova, Maisarat Kilyashkhanova, and Svetlana Anokhina got injuries on their bodies detected by medical officers.

Timur Zhambekov, a resident of Nalchik, complained that in June 2017, he was tortured, when law enforcers tried to force him to confess to thefts. According to his testimony, Timur Zhambekov was beaten with a fire extinguisher and tortured with electric current. The torture continued for several hours, after which Timur Zhambekov signed a confession.

*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.

**The “Team Against Torture” (formerly the “Committee Against Torture”) was created by lawyers who previously worked for the “Committee Against Torture” (CaT), which was included in the register of foreign agents.