RUSSIA: Russian police have been accused of torture and the maltreatment of prisoners in a special report from the human rights group Amnesty International.
It sets out a long list of abuses carried out to extract confessions in different regions of the country, ranging from electric shock treatment to specially designed rape chambers.
Amnesty claims it has documented more than 100 separate incidents of torture in 11 of the country's 89 regions. Chechnya was not included in the report, it stressed, with separate persistent allegations of widespread problems there too.
"Corroborated testimonies and medical evidence indicate that torture takes place across Russia. Beatings, electroshocks and even a 'rape-room' equipped with metal table and wrist restraints have been reported to Amnesty International, as means to obtain forced 'confessions'," it warns.
"Another strategy is to transfer suspects, on the pretext of overcrowding, to temporary detention facilities where inmates reportedly conduct beatings in exchange for privileges. Testimonies gathered from former detainees state that groups of up to six convicts carried out beatings with truncheons and poles."
The report, Russian Federation: Torture and Forced 'Confessions' in Detention, notes these practices are in clear violation of Russia's obligations under both domestic and international legislation.
The problem strikes to the heart of the entire police structure, complains Amnesty. Junior police officers are poorly paid and secure promotion based on the number of convictions they secure, encouraging them to rack up solved crimes regardless of actual guilt.
It also warned that existing agencies are not completely independent, are not allowed to pay unannounced visits, and have no powers of enforcement.
The report was published ahead of the EU-Russia Summit tomorrow in Finland. It urged the current Finnish presidency to give a stronger human rights message to President Putin.
Earlier this month, he hit back at criticism from countries like Spain and Italy, pointing out that "mafia" is not a Russian word.