E/CN.4/1998/38 page 33 that some defendants make false claims of torture and ill-treatment in order to avoid criminal punishment, but the validity of such claims would be fully investigated. 160. The Special Rapporteur also transmitted one newly reported individual case. With respect to two previously transmitted cases the Special Rapporteur sent to the Government comments made by the source to the Government's reply. The Government replied to the newly transmitted individual case, to a collective case transmitted in 1996 and to the comments by the source concerning two previously transmitted cases. Romania 161. The Special Rapporteur transmitted to the Government new allegations concerning 20 persons. He also retransmitted general allegations regarding ill-treatment on police premises, and the manner in which investigations are conducted (E/CN.4/1997/7, paras. 166-167), as well as 10 individual cases transmitted in 1995 and 1996, to which no reply had been received. Observations 162. The Special Rapporteur regrets the absence of responses to numerous cases over the year. Russian Federation 163. By letter dated 17 November 1997, the Special Rapporteur informed the Government that he had continued to receive allegations concerning the use of torture and other forms of ill-treatment in the Russian Federation. Several allegations concerned cases of persons alleged to have been tortured or ill-treated in the context of the conflict in the Chechen Republic. Other reports alleged resort to torture and ill-treatment by the police, particularly during pre-trial detention. Torture was mainly reported to occur immediately after arrest or during interrogation to intimidate detainees or to extract confessions. But also after being tried, detainees were still said to be at risk of torture and ill-treatment in prison, sometimes allegedly by fellow prisoners in collusion with the prison authorities. 164. Torture methods most commonly reported included beatings, electric shocks, asphyxiation (slonik) and particularly painful methods of physical restraint (konvert and lastochka). The slonik method was said to consist of the wearing of a gas mask with the oxygen supply cut off. For the konvert method the person was reportedly secured in a position with the legs pulled up to the head. The lastochka method was said to entail the handcuffing of the hands behind the back but above the level of the head, as a result of which the back was arched in a painful position. Furthermore, detention conditions were reportedly still characterized by overcrowding and unsatisfactory sanitation and medical care, amounting to ill-treatment. Generally, members of ethnic minorities were alleged to be at particular risk of ill-treatment. Some asylum-seekers had allegedly been subjected to refoulement. Use of torture and ill-treatment by the police had further been reported to be systematic in certain areas, including Mordovia and the regions of Magadan and Bryansk.