Human rights activists inform the UN about enforced disappearances in Russia

Memorial Human Rights Center sent a report to the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances, in which he stated about the practice of enforced disappearances on the territory of the Russian Federation. Human rights activists admit that it is difficult to analyze reports, including those about the situation in new Russian regions, since there is no verified and documented information to date. Yury Sinelshchikov, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on State Construction and Legislation, told Kommersant that “there have been isolated cases of illegal detentions,” but “it is impossible to talk about a trend.” Senator Andrei Klimov believes that human rights activists present “fantastic versions” in the report.

The UN Committee on Enforced Disappearance enforces the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. According to the text of the convention, enforced disappearance means “arrest, detention, abduction or deprivation of liberty in any other form by representatives of the state or by persons or groups of persons acting with the permission, support or consent of the state.” This convention entered into force in December 2010; to date, it has been signed by 98 countries and ratified by 72, including Ukraine. The Russian Federation has not joined the convention.

Last fall, the committee asked Member States, human rights organizations, and affected individuals for information on the situation with “short-term enforced disappearances.” This was to “prepare a joint statement on the notion of short-term enforced disappearance”. And although Russia is not a state party to the convention, in August of this year, the Memorial Human Rights Center (created by employees of the Memorial Human Rights Center, which was included in the register of foreign agents and liquidated) decided to transfer information to the UN on the situation with enforced disappearances of people in the Russian Federation.

In the report, “Memorial” recalled the mass detentions of civilians during the conflicts in Chechnya. According to the authors, by now this practice has actually been legalized: “Law enforcement agencies kidnap victims for short periods of time – often less than a day – and fabricate administrative charges. While a person is serving an administrative arrest, a criminal case is initiated against him. Victims are usually subjected to ill-treatment or threats before being formally arrested. By 2023, this practice has become widespread throughout Russia.”

Memorial’s lawyer, Violetta Fitzner, told Kommersant that Memorial used information from the victims themselves or members of their families: “Some cases are handled by us, others by the Justice Initiative (included by the Ministry of Justice in the register of foreign agents.— “b”), for some complaints were filed with the ECtHR.” Thus, in the report, Memorial cites the story of Islam Nukhanov, a resident of Chechnya, who on October 31, 2019 published a video on YouTube with “a luxurious district of Grozny, where many high-ranking officials lived.” “The next day, the police abducted him and placed him in the basement of the Grozny District Department of Internal Affairs. He was tortured and interrogated why he published this video,” the report says. As a result, Mr. Nukhanov was charged with assaulting a police officer and possession of a weapon and sentenced to four years in prison.

As for the practice of enforced disappearances in other regions, the situation there at least does not change for the better, believes Igor Kalyapin, ex-member of the Presidential Council for Human Rights and ex-chairman of the Team Against Torture human rights organization included in the register of foreign agents and liquidated: when citizens are detained on fabricated administrative materials, are punished in the form of several days of administrative arrest, and during these days they are subjected to illegal interrogation methods in order to fabricate criminal cases against them, they happen in the regions of Central Russia, the Volga region, the Krasnodar Territory, the regions of the Southern Federal District, and this the practice is becoming more common.”

In the report, Memorial also stated about illegal detentions in the new territories: “On March 11, 2022, Andrei Brynevsky disappeared in the city of Mariupol. For seven months, various government agencies and officials could not provide any information about his whereabouts, claiming that they did not arrest or detain this person. Only on October 6, 2022, the Ministry of Defense admitted that he was “detained for opposing the conduct of a special operation.” “The relatives of these people do not receive any information about where the abducted are and what is happening to them. Often, after torture, criminal cases are fabricated against the abducted, and only then do they enter the legal field, receiving a procedural status – for example, a suspect, ”explained Violetta Fitzner.

According to Mr. Kalyapin, there are “no reliable documented data on the situation with disappearances in the new regions” – there are only many unverified reports of illegal detentions and detention in inappropriate places and conditions. “Our main message is that all enforced disappearances must be accounted for, monitored and effectively investigated. It doesn’t matter if a person was kept in the basement for several months or hours,” the Memorial stressed.

“We must have court verdicts in specific cases (specified in the report.— “b”) in order to judge what really happened, – commented on the document, the first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on State Construction and Legislation, Yuri Sinelshchikov (KPRF). – For many years I worked in the Volga region and I cannot say that these incidents are frequent there. The report talks about nightmarish situations, but, for example, in the Ulyanovsk, Volgograd or Saratov regions, where I worked, I do not remember this. There were isolated cases of illegal detentions, but they were extremely rare. Therefore, it is impossible to talk about a trend.” In an interview with Kommersant, the deputy recalled that the prosecutor’s office oversees the legality of the detention of citizens. “If the prosecutor had enough powers, he could react, stop, initiate cases and conduct an investigation,” says Mr. Sinelshchikov. “Until 2007 (then, as a result of the reform, prosecutors lost the right to initiate and dismiss criminal cases.— “b”) they had such opportunities, and now their wings are clipped.

“I don’t believe in any fantastic versions. There are more serious questions, and I don’t feel like commenting on what someone has come up with,” said Andrei Klimov, senator and head of the Federation Council commission for the protection of state sovereignty, to Kommersant. “They say that this is all “very seriously.” I don’t get the impression that this topic deserves any serious consideration. Just because they write about it doesn’t mean it’s real.”

Emilia Gabdullina