INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Four men accused of killing at least 137 people in the deadly attack on Crocus City Hall appeared in a series of late Sunday court hearings
published on social media, leading some observers to conclude that the men were tortured by law enforcement.One of the suspects
The previous day, an unverified graphic video showed what appeared to be the same man lying facedown on the ground as law enforcement agents
cut off his ear and force it into his mouth.A man resembling suspect Shamsidin Fariduni, 25, appeared to have been tortured by an electric
device in a photo circulated online.Suspect Dalerjon Mirzoyev, 32, was seen in court with bruises and cuts and a plastic bag around his
neck.Despite the gravity of the accusations against the suspects, rights activists have warned against handling them with violence.The
Moscow Times spoke to lawyer Olga Sadovskaya from The Crew Against Torture, a prominent human rights NGO that monitors cases of torture in
Russia and provides support to victims, about what the suspects' treatment means for Russia.MT: As a human rights activist, what is your
response to the video and photos from yesterday of the suspects in the terrorist attack?OS: This is an obvious case of torture
The use of torture is prohibited by the Russian Criminal Code
explicitly prohibits torture
Everything that was captured in the videos and the photos [with the suspects of the attack] completely fits the description of torture
And, as a matter of fact, this is a crime that we witnessed on live television.MT: To what extent is showing this kind of footage
unprecedented in Russia?OS: First, any treatment of or behavior [toward detainees] will become normalized and made commonplace if it is
distributed widely enough
I think this situation sends two messages
For example, in the case of Chechen Salman Tepsurkayev [the moderator of a Telegram channel critical of Chechen officials], who, with his
Will the public view these images negatively?OS:The level of tolerance for torture is still very high in Russian society, but in three
distinct cases, it is even higher
These are three fairly common types of cases where the majority or a very substantial part of the public tends to believe that it is okay to
use unlawful violence against people
In these instances, the level of tolerance for torture is higher.Until 2022, the level of tolerance for torture [in Russia] was going down
At the same time, we saw the level of brutality of torture in law enforcement agencies decrease
blatant demonstration [of torture] signals that it is now permitted and there are no limits to it
There are media reports that police were forced to take over a barbershop where one of the suspected terrorists allegedly worked because the
This is a perfectly logical, inevitable, straightforward and natural consequence of the normalization of torture in public discourse.If we
can torture them [the suspects of the deadly attack], then we can torture those who were in contact with them, we can torture those who look
like them, we can torture anyone we don't like
And this is spreading like an epidemic.Human rights defenders can continue to work with public opinion and approach it from different angles
We can take a humanistic approach and explain that these are human beings and they should be brought to justice
Studies show how the human body is wired and how neurobiological processes work in this organism
They show that torture is in fact an ineffective means of extracting information
A person being tortured will only say things that will help to stop the torture
He will not tell the truth
He will say only what the person who is torturing him wants to hear in order to either stop the torture altogether or stop it temporarily
Therefore, torture does not help in investigating crimes and establishing the truth
Moreover, torture dehumanizes the one who uses it, because the person involves himself in committing a crime, and this in one way or another
affects him in the future
That is, torture does not help anyone from any point of view
It only creates an endless wave of violence.
