Doc. 11302 Report to torture and other forms of ill-treatment by members of law enforcement agencies and security forces continues, as does the related practice of unlawful detentions”289 and that investigations into these cases are largely ineffective.290 This statement follows two previous public statements also concerning the Chechen Republic in July 2001 and July 2003, which illustrates the extreme gravity of the situation. Member states’ duty to co-operate with the CPT and the follow-up to be given to the CPT’s public statements by the Council of Europe generally deserve to be the subject of a separate report by the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights. 340. In the framework of my mandate concerning allegations of secret detentions in Council of Europe member states, I invited the chair of the Russian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly, Mr Konstantin Kosachev, to comment on the CPT’s 3rd public statement and the allegations of secret detentions in the village of Tsentoroy. In his answer dated 15 May 2007, Mr Kosachev wrote the following: “According to the Ministry of the Interior of the Russian Federation, the delegation of the CE Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) headed by Mr M Palma visited the village of Tsentoroy (Kurchaloevskiy region of the Chechen Republic) and inspected all the premises they were interested in. They did not find either secret detention facilities there or any facts proving the rumours of their existence. No applications or complaints from residents were lodged to the law-enforcement bodies of the Chechen Republic about illegal detentions of people with their further stationing in the village of Tsentoroy (Kurchaloevskiy region of the Chechen Republic). The CPT report of November 2006 on the results of the two visits of the Committee said that there were illegal detention facilities in the village of Tsentoroy (Kurchaloevskiy region of the Chechen Republic). In response, the Ministry of the Interior of the Russian Federation carried out thorough additional inspections. The information brought to the notice of the European community and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe was not confirmed. The FSB of the Russian Federation does not have any information about the existence of any secret detention centre in the village of Tsentoroy (Kurchaloevskiy region of the Chechen Republic).” (Unofficial translation.) 341. Under the anti-torture convention, the CPT is duty-bound to maintain the confidential character of its work, and can therefore not comment publicly on this reply. But the Russian authorities have failed to provide a specific response to the point that I highlighted in my own letter, namely that it transpires from an official reply given to the CPT by the Russian authorities, which the CPT made public in part (in the abovementioned public statement),291that at least one secret detention facility – that is to say a place of detention that was not declared as such vis-à-vis the CPT – has existed within the premises of the Chechen President’s Security Service in the village of Tsentoroy.292I do not consider the above reply – a general denial – as a sufficient response to the specific issue I raised in my letter. The declaration in Mr Kosachev’s letter that the CPT delegation visiting Tsentoroy did not find either secret detention facilities there or any facts proving the rumours of their existence and that no applications or complaints regarding unlawful detentions in this locality were received by local law enforcement authorities is clearly contradicted by the CPT’s own public findings: “In the course of the 2006 visits, the CPT’s delegation again spoke with a number of persons who gave detailed and credible accounts of being unlawfully held – on occasion for prolonged periods – in places in the Chechen Republic. Frequent reference was made to facilities located in the village of Tsentoroy in the Kurchaloy district […]. In certain cases, formal complaints had been lodged with the prosecution services relating to unlawful detention and ill-treatment at Tsentoroy. […] The CPT’s delegation gained access to Tsentoroy on 2 May 2006 […]. The layout of the compound and, more specifically, the location and internal features of the secure rooms and adjacent ante-room, corresponded closely to descriptions which the delegation had received from persons who alleged that they had been held there (and subjected to various forms of ill-treatment).” (Unofficial translation.) 289. CPT, Public statement concerning the Chechen Republic of the Russian Federation, made on 13 March 2007 and relating to a visit in November 2006 (available at http://www.coe.int). 290. Ibid. 291. In a letter of 20 March 2007 published on the website of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry’s Director of Humanitarian Co-operation and Human Rights complained to the CPT chair about the publication of certain elements of the reply the Russian authorities consider as confidential. 292. I refer, in particular, to p. 24 of Document CPT/Inf (2007)17. 65