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visit detention facilities, and their inability to carry out unannounced visits; (b) reports that
POC members have been denied access to detention facilities even in some cases where
their visits had been previously authorized; (c) reports of reprisals against POC members,
such as the prosecution of Alexei Sokolov, a former Moscow POC Committee member; (d)
reports that independence of membership of POCs is inadequately safeguarded; and (e)
reports that some POCs do not have sufficient funding to enable them to perform their work
adequately; and (f) that POC reports on visits to places of detention are not made public in
all cases. The Committee is further concerned by reports of cases in which authorities failed
to undertake adequate investigations into allegations of torture and ill-treatment in cases
where this has been recommended by POCs. In this regard, although authorities revived a
closed criminal investigation into the 2009 death in custody of Sergei Magnitsky following
a report of the Moscow POC, only one relatively low-level prison official has been
prosecuted in connection with his death to date, despite the fact that the POC report
concluded that a number of investigators and penitentiary officials, including the lead
investigator in the criminal case against Mr. Magnitsky, should have been investigated as
well (arts. 2 and 11).
The Committee urges the State party to
(a)
Ensure that Public Oversight Committees are able to conduct
unannounced visits of all detention facilities, and that all cases in which officials are
reported to have obstructed such visits are investigated and those responsible
disciplined appropriately;
(b)
Ensure that POCs members are effectively protected from reprisals;
(c)
Ensure that POCs are adequately funded and independent of regional
administrations and consider transferring responsibility for appointment of members
of POCs to independent authorities;
(d)
Ensure that the findings and recommendations of POCs are made public
in a timely and transparent manner and that all allegations of denial of safeguards or
instances of torture or ill-treatment are drawn to the attention of the competent
authorities and are promptly, impartially and effectively investigated, as in the case of
allegations made by Leonid Razzvozhayev that he was abducted and subjected to
torture for the purpose of compelling a confession by officials of the State party prior
to being turned over to the Investigative Committee, and thereafter was denied the
right to access to counsel of his choice;
(e)
In the case of the death in custody of Sergei Magnitsky, promptly,
impartially, and effectively investigate the responsibility of officials, including the lead
investigator in the criminal case against him, as recommended by the Moscow POC,
and ensure that all those responsible for his torture and death are prosecuted and
punished with sanctions appropriate to the gravity of the crime;
(f)
Provide statistical data in its next periodic report on the number of
investigations into torture, ill-treatment, and denial of safeguards opened as a result of
POC visits, and information about the outcome of such investigations.
Intimidation, harassment and violent attacks on human rights defenders
12.
The Committee is seriously concerned about the approach taken by the State party
toward the work of individuals and organizations that monitor and report on human rights
conditions in the State party. This includes a 2012 requirement that organizations receiving
financial support from sources outside the State party register and identify themselves
publicly as “foreign agents,” a term that seems negative and threatening to human rights
defenders, including organizations that receive funding from the United Nations Voluntary
Fund for Victims of Torture.
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