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MosNews, August 13, 2004

Russian Ombudsman Blasts Pretrial Detention Centers


Russia’s human rights ombudsman Vladimir Lukin / Photo: Vyacheslav Kochetkov, MN Archive

Russia’s ombudsman Vladimir Lukin has denounced the nation’s pretrial detention system whereby a suspect can spend months — even years — in a pre-trial detention center before being convicted, like the former Yukos head, Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

“We are categorically against special purpose police being used instead of administrative means [in pretrial detention centers],” Interfax quoted him as saying in an interview to the official Rossiiskaya Gazeta. Referring to the common practice of using special police to put down disagreements in the centers, he said that the centers’ “bad work and lack of any system is the main reason why situations gets out of control in the first place.”

Force is often used instead of addressing the problems directly, he said.

Lukin also criticized the fact that the Justice Ministry, which has jurisdiction over the detention centers, has classified its documents regulating riot police, whereas other riot police regulations in use in the Interior Minister are open to the public.

He said that his agency has still not been able to obtain the document regulating riot police in detention centers, adding that this violates the law on the Russian human rights ombudsman’s office.

Another aspect of regulations that Lukin found suspect was the authorized use of masks by riot police. In his words, this allows police offers to get away with abuses.

In some cases, suspects held for years were later acquitted; in others, a court hearing a suspect held for years in a pre-trial detention center would hand down an equivalent sentence just to avoid the controversy of such a case being acquitted.

 

See also:

Human Rights

MosNews, August 13, 2004

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