U.N. Anti-Torture Body Slams 'Impunity' in Russia

The U.N.'s top anti-torture body criticized Friday the lack of accountability in Russia for perpetrators of torture, amid a growing number of abuse allegations against security forces.

"We are seeing very few effective investigations, especially criminal investigations that lead to prosecution" of perpetrators of torture in Russia, said vice president of the U.N. Committee Against Torture, Felice Gaer.

Presenting the findings of the committee's 49th session in Geneva, which ended Friday, she told reporters that in Russia there was a "failure to effectively investigate (torture) cases, to investigate them promptly, to investigate them impartially and to do so in a way that brings the perpetrators to a criminal trial."

The Russian military and police are often accused of brutality, and a number of criminal probes have been launched into the torture of suspects.

And reports of brutal treatment of suspects in police stations have multiplied after a scandal in the central Russian city of Kazan, where a man died in custody earlier this year after being beaten and raped with a champagne bottle.

The U.N. committee said it was concerned that a Russian government report had found that "no cases of torture or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment had been found in remand centers."

"This doesn't match our experience in the world and our evidence" from Russia, Gaer said.

She stressed that the lack of accountability was especially worrying since it was only one of "many terrible trends", including "an increased number of allegations of abuse".

She added though that it was unclear if the rise in abuse allegations was due to a worsening of the situation or because monitoring had improved.

She also decried the "intimidation and even the killings of human rights monitors", which she said were part of a general "climate of reprisals".