June 21, 2000

Briefing of the

Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe

WASHINGTON : 2001

106th CONGRESS Printed for the use of the

2nd Session Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe

Torture in the OSCE Region
COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE

234 Ford House Office Building

Washington, Dc 20515-6460

(202) 225-1901

csce@mail.house.gov

http://www.csce.gov

LEGISLATIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS

EXECUTIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS

HAROLD HONGJU KOH, Department of State

EDWARD L. WARNER III, Department of Defense

PATRICK A. MULLOY, Department of Commerce

COMMISSION STAFF

DOROTHY DOUGLAS TAFT, Chief of Staff

RONALD J. MCNAMARA, Deputy Chief of Staff

BEN ANDERSON, Communications Director,

ELIZABETH M. CAMPBELL, Office Administrator

OREST DEYCHAKIWSKY, Staff Advisor

JOHN F. FINERTY, Staff Advisor

CHADWICK R. GORE, Staff Advisor

ROBERT HAND, Staff Advisor

JANICE HELWIG, Staff Advisor

MARLENE KAUFMANN, Counsel

KAREN S. LORD, Counsel for Freedom of Religion

MICHELE MADASZ, Staff Assistant/Systems Administrator

MICHAEL J. OCHS, Staff Advisor

ERIKA B. SCHLAGER, Counsel for International Law

MAUREEN T. WALSH, General Counsel

ii

HOUSE

CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey

Chairman

FRANK R. WOLF, Virginia

MATT SALMON, Arizona

JAMES C. GREENWOOD, Pennsylvania

JOSEPH R. PITTS, Pennsylvania

STENY H. HOYER, Maryland

BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland

LOUISE McINTOSH SLAUGHTER, New York

MICHAEL P. FORBES, New York

SENATE

BEN NIGHTHORSE CAMPBELL, Colorado CoChairman

KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas

SPENCER ABRAHAM, Michigan

SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas

TIM HUTCHINSON, Arkansas

FRANK R. LAUTENBERG, New Jersey

BOB GRAHAM, Florida

RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin

CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, Connecticut
ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION (OSCE)

The Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the Helsinki

process, traces its origin to the signing of the Helsinki Final Act in Finland on August 1,

1975, by the leaders of 33 European countries, the United States and Canada. Since then, its

membership has expanded to 55, reflecting the breakup of the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia. (The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Serbia and Montenegro, has been

suspended since 1992, leaving the number of countries fully participating at 54.) As of January 1, 1995, the formal name of the Helsinki process was changed to the Organization for

Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

The OSCE is engaged in standard setting in fields including military security, economic

and environmental cooperation, and human rights and humanitarian concerns. In addition,

it undertakes a variety of preventive diplomacy initiatives designed to prevent, manage and

resolve conflict within and among the participating States.

The OSCE has its main office in Vienna, Austria, where weekly meetings of permanent

representatives are held. In addition, specialized seminars and meetings are convened in

various locations and periodic consultations among Senior Officials, Ministers and Heads of

State or Government are held.

ABOUT THE COMMISSION (CSCE)

The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), also known as the

Helsinki Commission, is a U.S. Government agency created in 1976 to monitor and encourage compliance with the agreements of the OSCE.

The Commission consists of nine members from the U.S. House of Representatives,

nine members from the U.S. Senate, and one member each from the Departments of State,

Defense and Commerce. The positions of Chair and Co-Chair are shared by the House and

Senate and rotate every two years, when a new Congress convenes. A professional staff

assists the Commissioners in their work.

To fulfill its mandate, the Commission gathers and disseminates information on Helsinki-related topics both to the U.S. Congress and the public by convening hearings, issuing

reports reflecting the views of the Commission and/or its staff, and providing information

about the activities of the Helsinki process and events in OSCE participating States.

At the same time, the Commission contributes its views to the general formulation of

U.S. policy on the OSCE and takes part in its execution, including through Member and

staff participation on U.S. Delegations to OSCE meetings as well as on certain OSCE bodies.

Members of the Commission have regular contact with parliamentarians, government officials, representatives of non-governmental organizations, and private individuals from OSCE

participating States.

iii
TORTURE IN THE OSCE REGION

JUNE 21, 2000

PARTICIPANTS

Page

Rep. Christopher H. Smith, Chairman, Commission on Security

and Cooperation in Europe ................................................................................................. 1

Rep. Joseph R. Pitts, Member ................................................................................................. 6

Dr. Inge Genefke, International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims................... 3

Maureen Greenwood, Advocacy Director, Europe and the Middle East,

Amnesty International ......................................................................................................... 6

Douglas Johnson, Executive Directorm, Center for the Victims of Torture ................... 11

APPENDICES

Prepared Submission of Maureen Greenwood .................................................................... 21

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1

TORTURE IN THE OSCE REGION

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21, 2000

COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE

WASHINGTON, DC

The briefing was held at 10:00 a.m., in room 2255, Rayburn House Office Building,

Hon. Christopher H. Smith, Chairman, presiding.

Commissioners present: Hon. Christopher H. Smith, Chairman; Hon. Joseph R. Pitts,

Commission Member.

Witnesses present: Dr. Inge Genefke, Secretary-General, International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims; Maureen Greenwood, Advocacy Director, Europe and

the Middle East, Amnesty International; Douglas Johnson, Executive Director, Center

for the Victims of Torture.

Mr. SMITH. Id like to begin this briefing and then get right to our very distinguished

presenters. My name is Chris Smith, and I chair the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe.

In 1998, the U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring June 26 to be the

United Nations Day in Support of the Victims of Torture. In advance of this years commemoration, the Helsinki Commission is holding this briefing to focus on the continuing

problem of torture in the OSCE region.

The issue of torture is one of longstanding concern to the Commission. We have addressed it at many Commission hearings and briefings. We have raised it at OSCE implementation review meetings. We urged inclusion of language on torture adopted by the

OSCE Summit of Heads of State and Government held in Istanbul last November. In addition, I introduced and worked for passage of two bills that have become law, the Torture

Victims Relief Act and the Reauthorization of the Torture Victims Relief Act. The first

law authorized $31 million over 2 years, $7.5 million for domestic centers, $7.5 for the

international centers, and then $3 million in each of those 2 years for the Victims of Torture Voluntary Fund at the United Nations. Last year, we were able to get a 3-year authorization. Cynthia McKinney, who is our ranking member on the International Operations

and Human Rights Subcommittee, was very helpful in not only co-sponsoring but moving

that legislation. That provides $75 million for more than 3 years, until the year 2003;

$10 million for the domestic centers, $10 million for the international centers, and then

$5 million for each of those 3 years to the UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture.

It is a start. Now we are fighting for the appropriated dollars, but we at least have the

marker there with the authorization and hopefully our appropriators and the administration will meet that authorization.

In spite of these efforts and the efforts of our Commission which I just mentioned,

torture continues to be a persistent problem in every OSCE country including the United

States. No OSCE country has no instances of torture or cruel, inhuman and degrading
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treatment. Nevertheless, while every country must work to address this compelling human rights problem, there are some places where the scale and the magnitude of the use

of torture is so egregious that it cries out for concerted action. The participants at the

OSCE meeting on torture gave several examples of countries or contexts that they argued

deserved particular attention.

First, conflict settings. Where violent conflicts have erupted or where there are perceived threats to national security, there is an increased likelihood that torture or other

forms of inhumane treatment will occur. This has certainly been the case in Serbia and

other conflicts in the OSCE region such as Chechnya.

Second, there are countries where torture does not merely appear as a tool of misguided police officials looking for quick and easy ways to obtain a confession, but where it

is used systematically as a means of political oppression. This is certainly the case under

the repressive dictatorship of President Karimov in Uzbekistan.

Third, religious and ethnic minorities such as Jehovahs Witnesses in Turkmenistan

or Roma in Hungary are often singled out for torture or police brutality.

Finally, torture may threaten the very foundations of democracy as it has in Turkey,

where the governments counterproductive reaction to allegations of torture has led to

violations of other rights, including the denial of fair trials and restrictions on the freedom of speech.

At todays briefing, we will consider two of these specific problem areas, Chechnya

and Turkey, as well as efforts to prevent torture and to treat torture survivors. We are

fortunate to have with us three individuals who have dedicated their lives to addressing

these problems. First, we will hear from Dr. Inge Genefke. Dr. Genefke is a founding

member of the Danish medical group of Amnesty International. She was also a founding

member of the Denmark-based International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims

established in 1985 to provide specialized treatment and rehabilitation services for the

victims of torture, and she now serves as Secretary General.

She was honored on June 10 by an award from the American Medical Association for

unique achievements of the highest standard in the medical field. Dr. Genefke has monitored several high-profile trials of medical professionals in Turkey and was present during the sentencing of Dr. Veli Lök.

We are also joined by Maureen Greenwood, the Advocacy Director for Europe and

the Middle East in the Washington Office of Amnesty International USA. Ms. Greenwood

has been traveling to the Soviet Union since 1986. From 1993 to 1995, during the outbreak

of what has become known as the First Chechen War, she worked in Moscow as the U.S.

representative in the Union of Councils Russian/American Bureau on Human Rights. Although we have asked her to discuss Amnesty Internationals most recent report on torture and rape in the ongoing Chechen conflict, I would like to note that she has also worked

on the problem of torture in Turkey.

Finally, we will hear from Douglas Johnson. Doug is the Executive Director of the

Minnesota-based Center for the Victims of Torture, the first organization of its kind in the

United States. Mr. Johnson served as a public member on the U.S. delegation to the OSCEs

Human Dimension Implementation Meeting and is a member of the OSCEs Advisory

Panel for the Prevention of Torture. He works with other treatment centers in the U.S.

and around the globe, and he was very helpful in drafting and in getting passed the Torture Victims Relief Act. I personally want to thank him especially for that great work he

did in advising our subcommittee as we moved that legislation.

I would like to ask Dr. Genefke if you could begin.
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Dr. GENEFKE. Thank you very much, Congressman Smith. Ladies and gentlemen, the

Human Rights Foundation of Turkey is probably well known to everyone. For more than

ten years, this foundation worked within two important areas, documentation of torture

in Turkey and rehabilitation of torture victims.

They have established five centers for victims of torture in Adana, Ankara, Diyarbakir,

Istanbul and Izmir. During recent years, more than 5,000 torture victims have been treated

at these centers. Approximately half these torture victims are new, having suffered recent torture within the last 7 days before attending to their selected center. The work of

the rehabilitation centers is deeply respected internationally.

Leading staff members of the foundation have been persecuted by the Turkish authorities since 1995. There have been trials in which authorities have insisted that doctors provide names of victims they have treated, a signal breach of one cornerstone in

medical work involving doctor/patient confidentiality. One argument behind this absurd

demand was that victims should be able to identify torturers. In this context, Turkish

authorities could trace who the perpetrators are by asking at the nearest police station as

torture takes place at all Turkish police stations.

During the last 6 months, however, the authorities have escalated their persecution

of the doctors who assist torture victims. One doctor, Dr. Uzun, who does voluntary work

at the Izmir center, has been subjected to psychological and physical torture from December 1999 at a police station. His testes were wrenched, and he was exposed to an attempt

of strangulation. Being kept in isolation and suffering sleep deprivation were among some

forms of torture. After this specific torture, he was brought to a governmental hospital, in

which a doctor issued a statement that Dr. Uzun was not subjected to torture; the doctor

did not examine him before issuing the statement. As a result, the Turkish Medical Association intervened and requested that Dr. Uzun be re-examined. There was conclusive

evidence that he had been tortured.

Here we are at the heart of the problem. The actual reason doctors are being persecuted is that now after working with torture victims and carrying out research for more

than a quarter of a century, they can establish whether torture has taken place. The fact

that doctors such as Dr. Uzun are capable of diagnosing and proving torture presents a

threat to those elements within the police force in Turkey who still use torture. Ironically

torture is prohibited according to Turkish law. Doctors who have dedicated their lives to

the treatment of torture victims are now being tortured themselves. This is a distinct

threat to all work against torture in Turkey.

As an observer at the trial for Dr. Uzun in Izmir in May 2000, I was encouraged to

believe that the situation might change for the better. The acquittal of Dr. Uzun, an internationally recognized doctor, was regarded as a positive development. Dr. Uzun delivered a statement to the court referring to harassment and torture inflicted by the authorities while he was awaiting trial. As Dr. Uzun has been tortured, we call upon Turkey to

fulfill its obligations under the international law, specifically under Articles 12, 13 and 14

of the United Nations Convention Against Torture to initiate a prompt and independent

investigation of the alleged torture, to ensure impartial examination of the case and to

ensure redress, compensation and access to rehabilitation following Article 14.

Unfortunately however, Dr. Uzun is not the only doctor currently being persecuted.

Alp Ayan, a psychiatrist affiliated with the center in Izmir, has been beaten. The crutch he

is forced to use due to a polio disease has been taken away from him. In fact, they said he

attacked the police. He is a small man who walks with an impediment, spending 3 months
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and 3 weeks in a Turkish prison. The head of Izmir center, the internationally recognized

research, Professor Veli Lök also faced charges and was sentenced in June of this year.

Professor Lök is a human right defender and founding member of the Human Right Foundation. He is internationally renown for his work on the diagnosis, documentation and

treatment victims of torture. The fact that such a recognized and respected professor as

Professor Veli Lök is being attacked confirms that no doctor assisting torture victims in

Turkey can feel secure. In fact, they are all afraid now. The charges against him consisted

of publishing his opinion regarding the decisions taken by the court before the trial has

been concluded with the final decision under Article 32 of the Press Law. Granted, a very

convenient law, nearly everybody can be jailed or tried.

The sentence of Professor Lök is a violation of the right to freedom of expression. The

judgment against him is effectively an act of censorship. Professor Lök is not to publicly

address Turkish authorities and the issue of torture for the period of 5 years. If he does so,

he will be forced to pay a token fine. The message is perfectly cleardoctors in Turkey

are not only being harassed and in some cases tortured, they are also being censored

simply because they are providing treatment and support for victims of torture, doing

their ethical duty, treating foe and friend.

There is widespread fear in the medical community and strong international condemnation is needed to reverse this development. There are other tragic consequences of

these events. The torture victims are afraid of going to the doctor for any necessary help.

At police stations, the victims are told that they are not permitted to see the doctor after

the torture. This also jeopardizes the continued documentation of torture in Turkey.

The actions of the Turkish police in relation to the doctors are not only criminal but

also constitute a breach of international law. The actions of the Turkish authorities remain completely incomprehensible at a time when Turkey has made an application to

work toward European human rights and ethical standards.

The International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims, the IRCT, started an

international campaign, which in collaboration with other organizations, politicians, embassies and medical institutions puts international pressure on the Turkish authorities to

stop these torturous crimes. At the trial in February 2000, the President of the Danish

Medical Association was present and representatives from five embassies, delegates from

rehabilitation centers in the U.S. and Germany. I was also fortunate to be present. At

other trials, the Secretary General of the World Medical Association, the Director of the

Danish Medical Association representing the standing committee of doctors in the European Union, more than a million, were present. Doug Johnson, Executive Director from

the Minnesota Center, people from the Berlin Medical Chamber, the Swedish Red Cross,

Amnesty International and many other organizations have also been present at these trials.

The presence of such a group of persons involving representatives from the World

Medical Association, embassies, and rehabilitation centers, etc. must make it apparent to

the Turkish Government that admission to the European Union will not be possible before the Turkish Government, instead of escalating human rights violations, including

acts of torture, at least diminish these with the purpose of putting a complete stop to the

violation of specifically torture.

The national and international health profession have been closely monitoring the

progress of the trials against doctors in Turkey. The developments warrant the concern of

the entire international community. It is essential that doctors, especially those treating

victims of torture, are able to provide the necessary assistance regardless of the religion,

political or ethnic affiliation of the victims. The doctors must feel secure in providing
5

treatment without fear of harassment or persecution simply because they are doing their

duty.

The recent publication of the report by the Human Rights Commission of the Turkish

Parliament documents widespread use of torture in Turkey. Many victims interviewed

alleged the use of torture and the Commission visited prisons and photographed torture

equipment, including electric cables. The victims stated that they did not complain to the

government or to the court since very few complaints are acted upon. This is the first time

an official governmental body has admitted to the widespread practice of torture. The

Turkish public is likely to give credence to such an official pronouncement, and we hope it

will mobilize civil society by urging governments to take meaningful actions to eliminate

the use of torture. All shall depend on how the political parties respond to this report.

When a party is out of office, it opposes the use of torture. But when it is in office, it ends

to deny or condone the practice.

IRCT urges the U.S. Congress to support their Turkish colleagues and the Parliamentary Commission report. At the Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE) in Romania, the U.S.

Congressional delegation should lend its support for the report and urge the Turkish

Government to take action to prevent the use of torture and punish the perpetrators.

Since 1990, the United Nations Committee Against Torture, CAT, the Committee for

the Prevention Against Torture of the Council of Europe, have been pointing to the torture condoned by the Turkish Government for numerous years. These findings have now

been confirmed by the report of the Parliamentary Committee in Turkey. Over the years,

numerous NGO and INGOs, including IRCT, have pointed out the same horrible conditions. We can only hope that a new Turkish report will have more impact than those very

esteemed bodies, CAT and CPT, have had until now, namely zero influence.

The Parliament had to listen to these brilliant and courageous persons who have said

the truth during all these years, year after year after year, report after report after report, again and again and again it was told to the Turkish authorities. Paradoxically, in

this very moment, the Turkish Government is preparing another shift in the prison system, a shift to smaller cells, 11 new prisons built with this cell model. The Turkish Government may be intending to impose an isolation regime on prisoners held under the antiterror law, cutting them off from human contacts and productive activities in a way that

can be physically and mentally harmful, essentially torture. An isolation regime is already being employed at the Kartal Special Type Prison in Istanbul. The organization

Human Rights Watch has reported that prisoners detained at Kartal Prison are suffering

the physical and psychological symptoms recorded elsewhere as an effect of small group

isolation including depression, anxiety, deterioration of eyesight, et cetera. These ways of

torturing are now commencing in the prisons all over Turkey.

Again, it is indeed a tragedy when those treating victims of torture themselves become victims of torture. I therefore urge all of you to contribute in ensuring that Turkey

fulfill international obligations in relation to the treatment of torture victims, the prevention of torture and the prosecuting of perpetrators. Thank you.

Mr. SMITH. Thank you, Doctor. Just let me make note that we have been joined by

Commissioner Joe Pitts, Republican Member of Congress from Pennsylvania, who has

been one of the most faithful members of the Commission at every hearing and every

briefing, and when we meet with delegations. He might want to say a word or two. I also

want to introduce Erika Schlager. I dont think she needs an introduction to people in this

room, but she is the Commissions Counsel for International Law. She has been on the

Commission staff since 1987. She got her B.A. from UNC Greensboro, and a masters de-
6

gree from Harvard, and then a law degree from George Washington University. She has

been absolutely effective over these many years. I have known Erika for many years. She

is very thoughtful in her work and does a great job. When she gave me the list of people to

introduce, she always leaves herself off, but I want to note that Erika has organized todays

briefing. Commissioner Pitts, do you have something to say?

Mr. PITTS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for holding this briefing. Thank you

to todays witnesses for your willingness to speak out and publicly condemn these human

rights abuses occurring in OSCE countries. I think it is vital that we as a nation, we as a

government, and as members of the Commission do all we can to stop torture in the world.

I am a new member this year, but I pledge that I will do all I can to work with you. When

we go to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Romania, we will certainly raise this issue.

Thank you very much.

Ms. GREENWOOD. Thank you so much, Chairman Smith, Commissioner Pitts and staff of

the CSCE for putting together this very important briefing. I also wanted to thank you in

particular for your supportive words after the Amnesty International report on human

rights violations in Chechnya was confiscated at the Russian Sheremetyevo Airport. As of

today the documents have not been released.

Amnesty International is an independent, worldwide human rights organization. We

have more than a million members with 300,000 members in the United States. Amnesty

works around the world to free prisoners of conscience, to ensure fair and just trials for

political prisoners, to end torture, the death penalty, and extrajudicial executions. Amnesty also works against violations by armed opposition groups, and we take no position

per se for or against the use of military force.

My remarks are going to cover the recent increased level of torture in Chechnya in

the context of the armed conflict. I am going to highlight a few horrifying particular cases

of torture. I will talk briefly about the systemic problems in the Russian Federation with

torture, and about a few violations by Chechen armed opposition groups. Finally, I will

make recommendations to the U.S. Government and to the Russian Government about

how to end torture.

Amnesty International recently sent a field team into North Ossetia and also

Ingushetia, neighboring republics of Chechnya, that collected horrifying new testimony

about torture in so-called secret filtration camps. Despite recent Russian Government

assurances that crimes will be punished, as of today Amnesty knows of not one single case

where a torturer has been prosecuted, either for the first Chechen war or for the current

war.

Russian forces are constantly detaining people in these so-called filtration camps at

checkpoints under their control, usually in the context of going into a village and doing a

so-called cleansing operation, where they check people for documents or registration permits or as they go across the border into neighboring republics. People are usually detained on suspicion for being a Chechen fighter, for being related to a Chechen fighter or

for having information about Chechen fighters, knowing where gun cachets are, et cetera.

But they are also arbitrarily detaining males between age 10 and 60 and women suspected

of being related to Chechen fighters. They are then transferred to secret filtration camps

where they are not formally charged. They have no access to family, lawyers or medical

care.

The detainees in secret filtration camps, men, women and children are routinely and

systematically tortured. They are raped, they are beaten with hammers and clubs, they
7

are tortured with electric shocks and tear gas, their teeth are sawed off, and some are

simultaneously beaten around both ears to burst the eardrums. I spent the weekend reading through dozens of accounts of recent Amnesty cases from these filtration camps, but I

just wanted to highlight three cases to give you an idea of what is happening there. By the

way, more information on Amnesty documentation is available on our website,

<www.amnesty.org>.

The first case, the case of Zelimkham. 20-year-old Zelimkham was detained on May 6

at his parents house by a group of 15 Russian special police forces or OMON. He was

taken to the outskirts of the village, ordered to take his clothes off, handcuffed and forced

to his knees. There, he was beaten with clubs for about 2 hours by various OMON police

officers. Then he was transferred to Internat filtration camp. In Internat, he was brutally

gang-raped by four or five OMON officers. He was blindfolded, handcuffed, and ordered to

lay face down on a table before being sodomized with wooden clubs and the butt of machine guns. He also said that officers squeezed his genitals and threatened him that he

would be incapable of producing children. They asked him to sign a confession stating that

he was a Chechen fighter. He was released 6 days later on May 13 for the sum of $300 after

being forced to say he had not been ill-treated. He told Amnesty that other detainees in

the Internat camp had had their ears pierced with nails. One 17-year-old boy had his teeth

and half his lip sawed off. He couldnt eat, drink or talk. That boy was eventually released

for $700, paid to the guards by his family. Another cell mate of his was released for $3,500.

The release of the detainees in the filtration camps is also turning into an unofficial business.

A second case is the case of a testimony of a survivor of Chernokozovo filtration camp.

We are calling him Musa. His name has been changed to protect him. He was detained

with 10 other men on January 16, when he was traveling on a bus with his mother and

brother. He was taken to the filtration camp in Chernokozovo, and he told Amnesty the

guards started beating us from the minute we entered the camp. There were about 20 or

25 men in masks in the camp yard standing in two lines forming a live chain, something

like a human corridor. We were pushed through this corridor and each guard began hitting us with clubs. They ordered us to completely undress and then we were forced to go

into a freezer room that was previously used to store freezing meat. The next day we were

again forced to run through the live chain of armed guards in masks in the corridor in

front of our cells. When I ran through the corridor, somebody hit me on the back with a

hammer. The pain was so strong that I could not even feel any pain during the rest of the

beatings. His testimony was confirmed later by an independent doctor who produced

medical evidence to the fact about a hematoma and damage to his spine.

One more caseI want to make the point that the persecution of ethnic Chechens

and minorities from the Caucasus is not only happening in the Russian Caucasus, but is

happening against Chechens and other minorities across the entire Russian Federation.

Take the case of Razmik Nagdalian. He is an ethnic Armenian from Baku in Moscow who

was detained in September. He is also an epileptic. The police picked him up at Savelievsky

Train Station in Moscow on September 23. Three OMON police officers asked him for his

passport and registration documents. He produced them. Nevertheless, they thought that

his registration stamp looked suspicious, and therefore they took him into a corner and

started beating him. Three different officers beat him for a while, and the last thing that

he remembers is having his head hit a wall and passing out. He woke up later. His clothes

were covered in blood, and he at that point went straight to the hospital. The next day he

went to the police station to make a formal complaint, and there was no further investiga-
8

tion into the incident.

The purpose of torture in Chechnya in the context of an armed conflict is similar to

the purpose of torture in general, to extract confessions or to force the individual to name

the names of other alleged suspects. But the underlying reason for the torture in the

context of an armed conflict is also to break the spirit of the individual and to crush his

will. A terrible aspect of these filtration camps is that people are held incommunicado.

These are not actual official institutions. When you think of a filtration camp, dont think

of a police station or a prison. These are makeshift facilities. One was made out of a former

chicken processing plant. Another one was in four wagon carriages. It is not humane treatment to actually hold people in these. Another aspect is that they are turning into an

informal business. Amnesty only knows of one case where a person was actually released

without their family being forced to pay anywhere between hundreds and thousands of

dollars to get them out. Meanwhile, the Russian Government has failed to allow access to

any independent observers to filtration camps and is trying to hide the problems.

I also wanted to place the context of the torture in the armed conflict of Russian in

the context of the wider problem of torture in Russia, which I think has been well documented for years by Amnesty International and other human rights groups. But I wanted

to make the point that the problem of torture in Russia and Chechnya has reached a new

level where it is out of control. In fact, Amnesty has been finding out about new forms of

torture, such as the filing of the teeth, that we never have even documented before.

In the context of an armed conflict, torture is something that should be controlled by

the Russian security and military forces in their command and control structure and represents a real breakdown of civilian control of the military. For example, there have long

been complaints of hazing in the Russian military, but the Russian military has claimed

that this is an unofficial policy that older soldiers do to younger soldiers. Nevertheless, in

the context of the armed conflict, this is systematic. This is routine and it is a breakdown

of the Russian military system that they are not having more control over these kinds of

excesses and they are not prosecuting those people that are committing these kinds of

crimes.

The overall political and economic crisis fuels the nationwide problem of torture and

ill-treatment in Russia. As Russia continues to reinvent itself after the old totalitarian

Soviet system, Russia has not yet successfully put in place systemic criminal justice reforms, leaving thousands of people gravely mistreated.

As Amnesty documented in its landmark 1997 report, This Man-Made Hell, on torture in Russia, structural problems in the Russian criminal justice system facilitate torture.

Torture and ill-treatment are fostered by: an over-reliance on confessions for evidence; pressure on police to solve crimes without resources to conduct forensic investigations; outrageous overcrowding in pre-trial detention centers, and ill-equipped and

underfunded prisons. Other factors that enhance torture include an underdeveloped culture of rule of law resulting arbitrary decision-making; a breakdown in discipline leading

dedovshina or brutal hazing in the armed forces; and impunity for abuses in the system.

According to the 1999 Department of State Country Reports on Human Rights Practices on Russia, There are credible reports that law enforcement personnel regularly use

torture to extract confessions from suspects, and that the Government does not hold most

of them accountable for their actions.

Torture is carried out in at least three phases in the criminal justice system in Rus-
9

sia.

First, in police custody, police routinely torture and ill-treat suspects. Innocent people,

sometimes no more than passers-by, regularly become victims of abuse. Those more likely

to be ill-treated are the less educated and the less privileged: ethnic minorities, the unemployed, vagrants, peasants, women, adolescents, and in some cases the disabled. A general feeling of impunity and state protection is apparently experienced by police officers.

Police officers use torture methods including asphyxiation, known in Russian as slonik

(elephant), beatings, and special methods of physical restraint, known as lastochka (swallow) or konvert (envelope). In the torture method slonik, a gas mask is put on the suspect. The flow of oxygen is restricted or cut off repeatedly until the suspect suffocates and

agrees to confess. This torture method is called elephant because of the resemblance of

the suspect wearing a gas mask to the animal. In another torture method lastochka, the

suspects hands are handcuffed behind the back, and in konvert, the victims legs are pulled

up to his head.

Second, after police custody, many detainees are transferred to vastly overcrowded

pre-trial detention centers. The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture said: The senses of

smell, touch, taste and sight are repulsively assailed. The conditions are cruel, inhuman

and degrading; they are torturous.

Third, in prisons, violations often continue. The Russian Governments own Human

Rights Ombudsman Oleg Mironov reported that 50 percent of prisoners with whom he

spoke in 1998 claimed to have been tortured. Prisons continue to be grossly overcrowded

and thousands of prisoners have no individual bed and have to sleep in two or three shifts,

often without bedding. Many cells are filthy and pest-ridden, with inadequate light and

ventilation. Food and medical supplies are frequently inadequate. The unsanitary conditions mean that illness spreads rapidly. Lung, circulatory and skin diseases, especially

tuberculosis and scabies, are widespread. According to reports, the Stalin-era prison

systems practice of press-camera continues to be common in a number of prisons and

detention centers, whereby prison officials and guards use some prisoners to brutalize

other prisoners to control or punish them in return for special privileges.

Torture and ill-treatment are also common is in the military. The violent and cruel

hazing of young recruits, at best, involves forcing recruits to perform menial tasks, often

outside official duties. At worst, it leads to beatings, torture, murder, and suicide. Military authorities and official documents hide the real problem of ill-treatment in the Russian army with euphemisms such as non-regulation relations between servicemen, or

characterize it as a practice of abuse of young soldiers by old soldiers. In fact, not only

soldiers but also officers of the armed forces continue to permit, encourage and often

participate in the ill-treatment.

There also have been some allegations of human rights violations by Chechen armed

groups. These have been extraordinarily difficult to confirm because independent monitors are still not allowed into Chechnya to confirm the violations by the Chechen forces.

There have been claims that the Chechen armed groups have used civilians as human

shields as well as in one case of rape of a Russian girl, and there is also talk about beating

uncooperative Chechen civilians. But we havent been able to independently confirm these

accusations.

In conclusion, torture and ill-treatment are a huge problem in Russia, but the new

rate and severity of torture in the context of armed conflict is highly alarming. Many

policy makers, especially in the Clinton Administration, may be hoping that the Chechen

problem will just go away. Nevertheless, although the main fighting and the war may be
10

over, the torture problem will not go away and in fact may even increase. In the current

low intensity conflict, the Russian forces are challenged on how to tactically respond.

When there are small attacks by the Chechen forces, they simply go into the nearest village and round up the usual suspects and take them to filtration camps where torture is

rampant.

As I mentioned, not one person, to Amnestys knowledge, is currently being prosecuted or has been convicted for these problems. The United States Government and the

international community must demand human rights changes as the price of respectability and full participation by Russia in international institutions. The Russian Government wants engagement with the West. They want financial investment. U.S. officials

from the Department of Defense should be talking to their counterparts in the Russian

military about respect for human rights and humanitarian law and about professionalism

in the armed services.

Under the current situation in Chechnya, any civilian can be picked up and brought

to one of these filtration camps where torture is routine. This is a clarion call. The problem of torture is not going to go away and may get worse.

A few recommendations. To the Russian Government, immediately release the names

of all detained and locations of all filtration camps. Grant detainees access to relatives,

medical care and lawyers. End the unofficial practice of accepting bribes to release detainees. Implement the resolution from the United Nations Commission on Human Rights,

which established an independent and impartial Commission of Inquiry to investigate

violations of human rights and humanitarian law in Chechnya, and submit a report promptly

to the member states of the United Nations Commission on its findings. Investigate all

reports of arbitrary detention, ill-treatment and torture and prosecute those who have

committed those crimes.

Also Russia should invite the thematic rapporteurs, including the UN special rapporteur on torture, on extrajudicial executions, on children in armed conflict and on violence

against women.

Recommendations to the United States Government: I recommend that the CSCE

Commission itself, particularly the Commissioner from the Department of Defense, raise

the issues of professionalism in the Russian military with their counterparts and ask

them to look into the human rights violations and violations of humanitarian law. Secondly, the United States needs to be much stronger in urging the Russian Government to

implement the recommendations from the U.N. Commission on Human Rights in Geneva.

The State Departments Office on War Crimes should be collecting violations of human

rights and humanitarian law actively, just like they did in Kosovo. The State Department

should also send monitors to the field into filtration camps and to assess the humanitarian situation in Chechnya and the neighboring republics. Finally, the U.S. Government

should vigorously implement the Leahy Law to make sure that no funding from foreign

operations appropriations flows directly to any security unit that has committed a human

rights violation and also that the United States Government trains no one from the police

or military that has participated in a gross human rights violation until they have brought

him or her to justice.

Thank you.

Mr. PITTS. Thank you. I will introduce the next briefer. Douglas Johnson is the Executive Director of the Center for the Victims of Torture in Minnesota and a member of the

OSCE Advisory Panel for the Prevention of Torture. Mr. Johnson will discuss efforts to
11

establish treatment centers for torture victims and the role of the OSCE in the field of

torture prevention. Welcome.

Mr. JOHNSON. Chairman Smith and Congressman Pitts, thank you for the focus of todays

briefing, reviewing issues of torture in the OSCE region as you prepare for the OSCE

Parliamentary Assembly. Thank you as well for the opportunity to appear before you.

You have heard compelling testimony today about the extent of torture in two specific parts of the OSCE, Turkey and Chechnya. Unfortunately, the discussion could extend to many other nations in the region. Amnesty Internationals recent report cites

violations of torture and inhumane treatment in 34 countries in the European region. It is

also critical of the situation in the U.S., as was a recent meeting of the U.N. Committee

Against Torture.

In its recent report, the respected International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights

states, Torture, ill-treatment and police misconduct are the most widespread human

rights problems among the states of the Organization on Security and Cooperation in

Europe today. Europe makes no exception to the general picture of mistreatment of individuals kept under the custody of representatives of state authorities that can be drawn

worldwide.

Reports from other monitoring organizations such as Human Rights Watch confirm

this bleak outlook. OSCE declarations and ambitions seek to create the region as a torture-free zone and as a model for achieving security based on high human rights standards. In March of this year, the OSCE and its Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights held a supplementary human dimension meeting on human rights and inhumane treatment and punishment. The discussions and recommendations focused on pretrial detention, prison conditions and the death penalty. The meeting issued a set of 44

recommendations to improve the conditions of pretrial detention to prevent torture. The

report is a useful summary of recommendations of practices already discussed and developed, plus some specific operational opportunities for the OSCE to undertake.

The first recommendation to end abuse during the pretrial detention is political

leadership should be exercised. This is true. Yet it begs the question about how the political will can be mobilized so that leadership will be exercised. This is true for most of

the recommendations. They assume goodwill, despite the fact that torture is so widespread throughout the region. One such recommendation is that there should be at least

one rehabilitation center for torture survivors in each nation of the region. The importance of this approach has become increasingly clear to political leaders. A treatment

center for torture survivors restores leadership of the community stolen by repression. It

helps victims, their families, their communities overcome purposefully induced fear. It

mobilizes the healthcare community through practice that engages many in treatment

and produces knowledge and awareness about tortures purpose and impact. It creates

political space that others may join to begin working against torture. It provides research

that improves forensic capacity to identify and prove when torture is used. It begins to

meet the states obligation under Article 14 of the Convention Against Torture that all

victims should receive as full a rehabilitation as possible.

Rehabilitation programs are established, if underfunded, in North America and most

of Western Europe, with some notable exceptions such as Spain and Portugal. There are

several excellent institutions in countries of repression or recent repression such as ICAR

in Romania, which we would certainly urge Congressman Pitts and Congressman Smith

to visit on your trip there for the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. Of course the Human

Rights Foundation of Turkey. Programs in Latvia and Estonia are helping deal with the
12

legacy of the Soviet regime. Nevertheless, other programs are relatively weak and quite

new. Treatment programs have been established in Croatia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Serbia,

Albania, Russia, the Ukraine and Kosovo. In fact, there are now rehabilitation centers for

torture victims in 14 countries of the 28 countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the

newly independent states. But the nations of Central Asia and the Caucasus as yet do not

have rehabilitation programs, either for the victims of the former Soviet system or for

those generated all too often by current governments.

The International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims obtained funds from

the European Union to help stimulate the development of new treatment centers and

fund their first 6 months of existence. We had hoped that USAID and other development

agencies would then step in to help secure these institutions growth and stability while

they develop their treatment models and institutional capacities. With the exception of

DANIDA [Danish International Development Assistance], however, few other development agencies have been involved supporting treatment programs for torture victims.

DANIDA, by law, cannot support those programs in the OSCE region.

Thus, the need is more urgent to find a resource for financial and political support

from the West to develop and to sustain new treatment centers if we are to meet the

recommendations of numerous OSCE meetings on the subject. Without outside financial

support, we are also in danger of losing some of the more experienced treatment programs such as ICAR in Romania, just at the time we should be drawing on their accumulated expertise to help develop other programs in the region. This was a tragic experience

in Chile, Argentina and Uruguay, where many vibrant institutions disappeared when international focus and funding shifted to other regions of the world. Thus, the world lost a

resource that would have been helpful to promote rehabilitation programs in Peru and

Colombia and elsewhere in Latin America. I am afraid this is also occurring in Southern

Africa. It will be an important legacy of this Commission if together with the OSCE it can

help mobilize the political will to prevent this from also happening in the OSCE region.

Now establishing a rehabilitation program will not alone end torture in that country.

It will have many positive impacts and I believe is an essential component of any overall

effort to end torture. Nevertheless, like any single tactic, it will not succeed on its own.

Torture exists in the highly complex systems and is reinforced by police training and

impunity, prosecutorial zeal, political revenge and fears, corrupt and inefficient judiciaries, public attitudes and apathyeven apathy induced by fear. The use of torture will not

yield to individual tactics, no matter how well conceived or pushed by governments, by

non-governmental organizations or by international agencies.

The list of 44 recommendations on how to eliminate torture during pretrial detention

attest both to the deeply embedded nature of the problem and the steps we know must be

taken to end torture. What is missing is a body that pulls these steps into a comprehensive strategy able to wage campaigns, country-by-country if needed, to mobilize the political will necessary to implement the steps recommended. We need leadership with strategic capacity that can assess the components, specific causes and the beneficiaries of national uses of torture and then draws together the many agencies and approaches with an

interest and capacity to contribute their piece of the campaign. This is what I hope the

OSCE could provide with its unique combination of economic and security concerns and

expertise with strongly grounded values in human rights and democratic cultures. But it

is also an agency of governments. Even governments who proclaim loudly their desire to

end torture are not readily convinced to participate in a global effort of this magnitude.

The vision for this must come from its members and especially from the United States. It
13

must be a highly visible political goal to struggle for agreements to have the organization

fulfill this strategic role. I believe that this effort must come from this Commission and I

urge that it do so. Thank you.

Mr. PITTS. Thank you. Is it all right if I begin the questioning? First, thank you again

for all your tremendous work on behalf of torture victims and the effort to stop torture,

and we look forward to working with you on that. If I could just ask a couple of questions

to our first briefer. What excuses does the Turkish Government continue to give when

confronted with allegations of torture?

Dr. GENEFKE. The reason why they were going to Dr. Zeki Uzuns clinic and took him

and tortured him was that they were saying that he was treating PKK terrorists. You

know that is exactly one key factor which is extremely important. Because we are doctors

and we have our ethical declarations which say that we shall treat foe and friend. We

should treat the people who come to us. That was the reason they provided. In other

cases, they have been askinghaving the names of the torture victims who were helped in

these five centers in Turkey. They wanted these names because they said they would

prosecute the torturers. In fact it is grotesque and absurd because the torturers are the

authorities, the police themselves. That is the excuse.

Mr. JOHNSON. Congressman Pitts, usually at international meetings of the OSCE, the

Turkish Government denies that torture is systematic. They may say occasionally, as President Demerel did about 6 months ago, that torture occurs, but they deny it is systematic.

The important part of the new report from the Parliament is that it agrees that torture is

systematic and is widespread. In reaction to this report, the Interior Minister gave a very

curious justification for why torture occurred. He said that the judiciary is so broken and

that victims of crimes have so little hope for seeing justice done that the victims of crime

demand that the police take on punishment within their own capacity and mete it out, and

that this is a public demand for the police to be engaged in abuse and torture.

Mr. PITTS. Are there any instances of prosecution of police brutality?

Mr. JOHNSON. There are a number of instances. They drag on for many years and they

generally result in extremely small fines and imprisonment. Usually the police are allowed to continue in practice even during the trial. Perhaps the most famous case internationally is the case of the torture of children in Manisa that occurred in February or March

of 1996. The children were convicted of the crimes of which they were accused, although it

has been laid aside until the results of the hearing of ten policemen who were involved in

their torture. This case has just dragged on forever and ever. As the judge continues to

release the police, the Supreme Court has demanded that they retry them. I would say to

reinforce something Dr. Genefke said recently, that our treatment colleagues in Izmir

have been very involved in doing the forensic documentation of that case. InI think it

was March of this yearDr. Veli Lök was at that trial and was taken aside and shoved

aside by a number of the policemen who said that they knew who he was. They were going

to get him for his role in producing forensic evidence in the trial.

Dr. GENEFKE. I believe we are at the key problem. Because after this, a quarter century of research, we now are able to diagnose torture. That is a very strong weapon in our

hands: in the doctors hands. That is why the Turkish Government wanted to kill the

doctors movement, because it is very strong. So they are attacking now an extremely

recognized person like Veli Lök. When they attack him and his team in Izmir, they can

attack each and every one. So they silenceas torture governments do, they silence not

only the population but also the doctors. Our weapon will be destroyed now because no

doctor in Turkey dares to document because they are threatened, just as Doug Johnson
14

said. They are threatened and we cannot prove the threats, but we know of course the

doctors. They are threatened that they will be taken and tortured again. So everybody is

now very afraid. The Turkish Government will then be in a secure position because then

we cannot document the torture anymore. So even with the Parliamentary Commission

and what has been said, we cannot continue document. So they can go to the EU and say,

okay, there are no documented cases because no doctor dared to do it. We are in an extremely crucial situation now. We have to protect the doctors. Graciously, the World Medical Association Secretary General, Dr. Delon Human, went there and he will revisit there

again, also the EU Standing Committee of Doctors. So we will go on and on. Nevertheless,

it is a very difficult situation exactly because our colleagues are so afraid and are now

being tortured.

Mr. PITTS. Ms. Greenwood, in the torture or the secret filtration camps you mentioned, how many people do you estimate are subject to torture? In your opinion, how

many undocumented cases exist in the Russian Federation? Is it possible to quantify it?

Ms. GREENWOOD. Quantifying is impossible because no independent observer has had

access to the camps. Attached at the back of my statement are lists of cases, currently less

than 100. These are lists that were kind of secretly smuggled to us, and they were very

difficult to confirm. There was a report on the First Chechen War that in approximately a

6-month period during that three-year war, 1,500 people passed through filtration camps.

Mr. PITTS. How many?

Ms. GREENWOOD. 1,500.

Mr. PITTS. 1,500.

Ms. GREENWOOD. But it is very difficult to tell about the present war. According to

official information, a total of 1,325 persons passed through the filtration camps between December 11, 1994 and July 22, 1995.

Mr. PITTS. I would like to open it up to questions to anyone in the audience or staff.

Ms. SCHLAGER. Thank you. I would like to take the privilege of asking a question of Ms.

Greenwood. I would like to add that, for people from the audience who would like to ask

a question, we are having this briefing transcribed. So I would ask that you would step

forward to the front of the room where there is a microphone and state your name and a

staff person from the Commission will approach you after you have asked your question to

ensure that we have your name spelled properly for the record.

Ms. Greenwood, I have a two-part question. First, are you aware of whether or not

the International Committee of the Red Cross has sought to have access to Chechnya? If

so, what has become of that effort? Then secondly, I am wondering if you can comment on

the extent to which the existence of an ongoing conflict in Chechnya has impeded the

efforts of people to go into the region and monitor it. I ask that in part knowing that OSCE

representatives have at times not been able to get into the region because of those security concerns. Thank you.

Ms. GREENWOOD. My understanding is that as of 2 weeks ago, the ICRC was granted

access to some filtration camps. While that is a very positive step, there are many filtration camps. Also, the information that the ICRC collects is secret. So that it isnt possible

to know what they are finding. But that is a good step. Yes, we are definitely calling on the

Russian Government to provide security guarantees to the region so that independent

human rights monitors, international observers, journalists and humanitarian groups can

have access to the region. Lack of access has been a tremendous problem. Also one recommendation is for the U.S. Government to urge that the OSCE Assistance Group to Chech-
15

nya be reestablished in the region. I think that would facilitate visitors.

Ms. SCHLAGER. Thank you. Are there some questions from people in the audience that

you would like to ask? Okay, there is a microphone right up here. If you could state your

name and then someone will get the correct spelling.

Mr. HICKEY. I am Peter Hickey. Can you just talk about the State Departments engagement with the Putin government or the Turkish Government on the issue of torture?

Ms. SCHLAGER. I am sorry, which governments?

Mr. HICKEY. Could you just talk about the level of engagement between the State Departmentyou know, Madeleine Albright thinks Putin is a man she can work with. Has

the State Department been working with the Russian Government or the Turkish Government on this issue? Have they been engaged and can you describe it? I also wanted to

ask if the U.S. has transferred equipment to security services that have been used in

torture?

Ms. SCHLAGER. Thank you. Maureen, did you hear the question on engagement with

Mr. Putin?

Ms. GREENWOOD. Yes. We have been very disappointed in general by the Clinton

Administrations unwillingness to raise violations of humanitarian law and human rights

law in the conflict. We didnt have indications that during his recent trip to Russia that it

was raised at very high levels. In terms of assistance, I do know that in the pastand my

colleagues can answer on Turkey, but I also follow that issuethere is currently no foreign assistance that goes directly to Turkey. But there is currently pending a $4 billion

attack helicopter sale, and we know that helicopters have been used directly in human

rights violations against civilians in the past. There are also transfers of electric shock

batons which are used in torture.

The Russian Government receives U.S. economic and military assistance through the

Foreign Operations Appropriations Act. I cant tell you if U.S.-supplied equipment has

directly been used in torture. However, under the Leahy Law, the U.S. Government should

screen all recipients for human rights violations. The U.S. Government should collect

information on criminal investigations against abusive law enforcement officials.

Mr. JOHNSON. Of course, that is a question to ask the State Department. We can only

see what is visible to us. I was pleased when I attended Veli Löks trial in February that

the human rights officer from the embassy came and attended the trial. It took place in

the judges chamber and very few people were actually allowed in the chamber. I was also

pleased that she shouldered her way in to make sure that she was one of those people

there. There was also further follow-up by that office, and it appears to me that at least

the human rights officer is very active and very committed. The question is how do things

go further up.

The situation with the helicopter sales I think is illustrative of where the United

States has leverage. Assistant Secretary Harold Koh and Assistant Secretary Marc

Grossman were actively engaged in trying to encourage the Turkish Government to understand that the current human rights situation would impede the sale of those helicopters. It will still boil down to whether or not the U.S. will still value the human rights

situation over the sale of thoseof that equipment. The proof is in the pudding, as it were,

and the pudding is not yet pudded.

So I think more can be done about Turkey. The State Department could be more

actively engaged. I attended the OSCE meeting in November 1999 and Assistant Secretary of State Koh was there being extremely active and visible. He met with the Turkish

Government, with Turkish NGOs and giving encouragement. I think that the human rights
16

community has felt more and more supported by the U.S. Government in Turkey. They

are much less suspicious than they were 8 years ago about U.S. motives, more able to rely

on the U.S. Government by their own accounts they were previously. That in itself is a

good sign. Again, we would encourage them to do more of that.

Dr. GENEFKE. May I just addbecause I think that Doug Johnson said it very rightly

what is really important is the political will. Of course it is up to us to explain and to make

the relevant pressure at the relevant places. So we are doing so. We are sending our

reports and our demands to all the EU Embassies, because we know that Turkey wants to

go into the EUto all the EU Embassies in Ankara and all the EU Embassies, and of

course also including the American Embassy. We have really answers for that to Chris

Patten and to Brody, who are responsible in the EU. This sort of pressure or this sort of

weight to make open what happens is extremely important for the moment also. My Foreign Minister may be from Denmark, he raised the problem last time a couple or 6 weeks

ago when he went to Turkey, and that is the way we had to work that. The politicians from

our countries, they had to raise it and they had to take the necessary steps because we

know that torture is there for silencing people. We know that torture is the most important instrument against democracy. We know they are attacking exactly the leadership as

we have been talking about. So this is up to the democratic leaders in our country to use

the information we give as professionals. To use it and take the right steps toward the

Turkish authorities. We also know that the Turkish authorities do not like what we have

been doing so far. That is evident. We are going on with the pressure with the help of you

also. I think this is the only thing that can help them now, international pressure. So we

appeal to all of you here.

MS. GREENWOOD. I want to add one point. I agree with everything that Doug said. But I

wanted to clarify two issues on the specific topic of the attack helicopter sale to Turkey.

First, senior State Department officials promised both the human rights community NGOs

and told the weapons contractors that the Turkish Government had to meet human rights

benchmarks, and make concrete and significant progress in order for the export license to

be granted. One of those human rights benchmarks was prosecuting torturers.

Secondly, I agree with you that the proof is in the pudding. But it is not just a question of goodwill. The State Department and the Administration are also legally bound

under the Arms Export Control Act to apply human rights conditions to arms transfers.

Dr. GENEFKE. I am very much afraid for cosmetic changes in Turkey. Because we know

from the Manisa trial where children were tortured, they attempt now to make a trial

against the torturers. The last trial just a fewwhen I was there maybe 10 days ago or

something like that, the torturers had disappearedthe two they wanted to charge with

had disappeared.

Mr. JOHNSON. I want to just make a comment about something else. I have been working on for the last 5 years in Turkey. As you can tell from my testimony, I am very concerned about the narrowness of tactics applied around the world against torture and how

difficult it has been to conceive of a strategic response that really bears pressure on changing

the situation.

In 1995, we proposed the development of an international training event that we

would propose to do in Turkey. It wasnt about Turkish human rights situations. It was

about the development of emerging tactics around the world to resolve human rights problems. Issues like torture, but other forms of human rights problems. What we were proposing to do was bring in government officials, international agencies, non-government

organizations that had been developing promising approaches to make changes. The no-
17

tion of this was an international conference of 700 people to help spread the capacity for

tactical flexibility among all of us and to help build strategic thinking. But the notion of

having it in Turkey was to disseminate more ideas into civil society and into government

bureaucracy than currently occurs.

Now I discussed this initially with our Ambassador to Turkey, Marc Grossman, who

was enthusiastic and has been working with me ever since in his capacity as Assistant

Secretary of State. We are constantly running into one major problem, which is called

money. We have the European Union very interested in this program, but they want a

signal that the U.S. Government is also interested. I would say it has been a significant

embarrassment and frustration to people in the State Department that so little funds are

available to try something new and to engage a place like Turkey in a different area. That,

of course, is I think very symptomatic of where cuts have occurred in the American budget

to the expense of our own capacity and flexibility to make change whereas other parts of

our budget, such as our military budget, continue to rise above requested levels. I think

we need a balance in our own approach of determining that we are going to allow ourselves more tactics than military intervention in order to resolve problems. This is certainly a place where the U.S. could be engaged with a country and needs to invest some

resources in that effect.

Ms. SCHLAGER. Thank you. I think we have a question up here and then another one

from the back. Do you want to start, please?

QUESTIONER. Yes. My name is Gareth Cooper. My question is concerning the benchmarks you had mentionedsome benchmarks that Turkey had to qualify or at least take

underanyway, my question is concerning the relationship between the Turkish Government and Cyprus concerning human rights issues. I was wondering, you mentioned that

things are improving. However, sometimes issues arent brought up or things arent disclosed. I was wondering, what are the human rights issues concerning the relationship

between those two countries?

Dr. GENEFKE. Between Greece or

QUESTIONER. Between the Republic of Cyprus.

DR. GENEFKE. Greece and Turkey you are talking about?

QUESTIONER. Yes.

DR. GENEFKE. Okay. There are problems there. I think that there has been a softeningthat is my personal feeling because of the help from the Greek Government after the

massive earthquake in Istanbul and other places. I think that helped. The climate was

extremely tough for many, many years as you know. I think there is a softening phase now.

But I dont think anyone else will have any details about it.

MS. GREENWOOD. I am going to give you the list of the eight human rights benchmarks.

They include decriminalization of freedom of speech; prosecuting torturers; releasing

imprisoned parliamentarians and journalists; ending harassment of human rights defenders and re-opening non-governmental organizations; ceasing harassment and banning of

political parties; lifting the state of emergency in Turkey; resettlement of internally displaced persons to villages; end-use monitoring and rules of engagement for U.S. supplied

weapons. But the benchmarks are human rights benchmarks and do not touch on the

Cyprus issue.

QUESTIONER. Okay. Thank you.

Ms. SCHLAGER. I think there is someone else who wanted to come forward and ask a

question.
18

QUESTIONER. I am Sister Alice Zackmann from the Guatemala Human Rights Commission USA. First, I want to commend all of you for excellent presentations about torture.

Mine is more of a comment than a question. Unfortunately, Amnestys report this year

indicates that more countries practiced torture this year than last year. Now I know Amnesty is going to have a major campaign against torture, for which we are very grateful.

Nevertheless, I think the U.S. people particularly have to begin to take action against

torture. Politicians must hear from their constituents about the severe crisis of torture in

the world, so how can we get this kind of information to the grassroots level? It is very

difficult to do. I know we have been trying to raise the issue, and people just dont want to

hear about it. It is one issue where you cant take sides. You have to be against it. You cant

be for it. People like to take sides in an issue, and this one you cant. So I guess I just raise

the question: how can we get through to the grassroots people to help bring an end to

torture. If people knew, for instance, that the United States was going to sell helicopters

to Turkey, I think they would really rise up against it. But they dont know. There is so

much secrecy about what is going on.

Ms. SCHLAGER. Thank you.

DR. GENEFKE. Let me answer it generally because I am not from your country. Generally what we are doing at our organization, the IRCT, an umbrella organization for nearly

220 centers and programs globally is that we are going out and creating centers and supporting them. What we are trying to do isthe press is incredibly important. To work

with journalists. We have campaigns and we try to go out delivering messages. I think

there are several levels. There are the general things said about torture, what we have

been saying, weigh them against democracy. Then you have for each country. You know

there are more than 100 countries in the world where the governments are behind the

torture and the people are silenced. For example, visit an African country. Where in Africa is there not torture? Go to an Asian country, go to a Latin American country, or

Central American country or wherever. There are very few countries where it is not the

authorities who are behind the torture. Take the definition of torture, the international

definition of torture. So you have the level of the general awareness of torture and then

for the differentlike my line, I say there are enough to talk about. But you are very right.

For many years, people are like small apesdont see, dont hear, dont talk. We should be

human and look into the evil in the eyes and that is torture. I dont have the answer, but I

think one answer is that you can make a difference. We should take it the way that if we

really work together, we can make a difference. We have done it in some places. You

should have that positive thing. When Amnesty started teaching us against torture, we

knew nothing. Today we are awarephysical, psychological and social. We know about

the after effects. We know why they are torturing. We started with the victim. We saw it

was also spouses and children suffering. It is transgenerational. It is the whole society. So

we can explain now, and I think this is a very strong weapon.

MS. GREENWOOD. I share your views that it is a tremendous challenge in general to get

the American public interested in foreign policy issues, and I hope we can work together

on this. Amnesty is a grassroots membership organization. We are active in 600 high school

and college campuses and we are working on torture cases. So we are really trying to

work on getting the next generation interested. In the past 2 years we have been developing a congressional strategy of trying to get Amnesty members in every congressional

district to raise one prisoner case with each Member of Congress. So we are trying to get

every Member of Congress contacted by Amnesty constituents to be writing on prisoner

and torture cases. But, you know, we have a long way to go and Amnesty is a volunteer
19

organization. So anybody who is interested, they can let us know.

Mr. JOHNSON. About 8 years ago, we had a focus group of wealthy individuals who

donated to the center and a group of people who should have but werent. I sat on the

other side of this one-way mirror so I couldnt interfere with the conversation and it taught

me a lot. Within a minute, this group of about 10 Minnesotans, very safe, well-to-do people

started talking about the problem of fear and how somebodys stomach was queasy,

someones hair stood on edge talking about the problem of torture. This was something

that was very easy to turn the page on. Of course when people turn the page, they dont

pay attention and they dont act. They dont fund. They dont do a lot of things. So the

problem in their view was how do you get people not to turn the page.

For us, they emphasized that the center is a place of hope. In front of me, they developed a phrase that we still use to define our mission, which is restoring the dignity of the

human spirit. What we triedwhat we learned from that was that ifit is messages of

torture which emphasize the horrificthe cases, the details, they appeal to a certain group

of people, but mostly they frighten people and turn them away.

They hear the stories once, they go home and have a nightmare that night, and they

dont want to talk about it again. That if we want to engage people in this work, we have to

emphasize the hope. I think that is one reason I have stayed with the treatment programs

and why I am very excited about their development is that we bring something to the table

to the human rights community that has been missing, and that is a strong element of

hope. We can restore, we can prevent, we can engage new constituencies. It is very important for all of us, I think, to figure that out, how to lead. It is an old organizers principle

from Alinsky that you might mobilize a community with something of anger, but anger

burns out and becomes apathy very quickly. People get out of bed and they work every day

when they have hope and finally when they know that they can make a difference.

So the responsibility of the human rights community and all of us who care about this

issue is not only to constantly raise the hope that will motivate us to continue, but very

specific actions that, number one, people can really understand politically this makes

sense to do and it will make a difference; and number two, my participation in it is vital.

That requires creativity on our part. It requires amplifying the number of tactics we use.

Because a tactic is like a lesson, it attracts a certain constituency and others it leaves cold.

So we have to engage people on many, many different levels to draw them in. To get past

that great sense of fear that torture brings and become engaged in it.

If this is a problem in the United States, think of what a problem it is in Chechnya and

Turkey and so forth. Several years ago I met with a lead official in Turkey in the Human

Rights Ministry and we were talking about the Putnam research about the more civil

society organizations there are, the more honest and efficient and democratic are the

governments. He had never heard about this research, but at one point kind of light went

on in his face. He said, you know, we are a country of 60 million peopleit is now 64

millionand in the entire country, only 1 million are engaged in any kind of civic society

organization, including, he said, the administration of mosques.

The 100,000 mosques in Turkey, each with a board of directors. There are not many

people left of this million to be engaged in civil society. Do you know why, he asked me?

He said it is fear. That over generations Turks have learned to be fearful of public life. We

have retired to our families. We have retired to our businesses. And we stay out of public

life.

That is tortures purpose: cultural transformation to create a climate of fear where
20

people learn to be apathetic. But we need to learn the lessons for ourselves about how to

engage ourselves in this issue, and we also need to be engaged in the world in helping

communities heal, helping them recover their leadership, helping them overcome the legacy

of fear so that they can participate in democratic life.

DR. GENEFKE. Maybe it is appropriate that I add that I have been very impressed with

all the NGOs in your country. Last year on the 26th of June, which is the anti-torture day

honoring the victimsthe United Nations Day for Victims of Torture is the 26th of June.

The NGOs in WashingtonI think last year there were 400gathered together for a vigil

before the White House.

There will be the same this year. Many NGOs will be there and present and say that

they think about the victims of torture because it is so important for them to be recognized. I have been very impressed with the NGO, may I say, climate in Washington and

also in Minnesota, where the center managed to raise much awareness between NGOs

and people.

Ms. SCHLAGER. Thank you. I think we have just about exhausted our time now. So I

would like to close perhaps by making one reflection of my own on the question that was

just raised. Certainly from the perspective of someone who sits in Washington day in and

day out, I would want to underscore how extremely important public engagement is to

policy makers in Washington, first and foremost by documenting the human rights violations.

There is simply no substitute for the role of the independent, non-governmental community in that capacity, and in keeping our own government honest and ensuring that

human rights has the priority it should in the conduct of our foreign policy.

I would like to thank each witness who has appeared here today. I think the richness

and thoughtfulness of their remarks illustrates their years of experience and their dedication to this subject. I also want to thank them for the constructive challenges they have

left for Washington policy makers here today. We have heard you.

Thank you.

(Whereupon the briefing was concluded at 11:26 a.m.)
21

PREPARED SUBMISSION OF MAUREEN GREENWOOD,

ADVOCACY DIRECTOR, EUROPE AND THE MIDDLE EAST,

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

Thank you, Chairman Christopher Smith, Co-Chairman Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell and other members and staff of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe for organizing this important briefing. Amnesty International is an independent

worldwide human rights organization. Amnesty has more than one million members in

140 countries, with over 300,000 members in the USA. Amnesty works to free all prisoners

of conscience; ensure fair and just trials for political prisoners; abolish torture and the

death penalty, and end extra-judicial executions. Amnesty also opposes abuses by armed

opposition groups. Amnesty has no position for or against the use of military force.

 We thank Chairman Smith and the CSCE for the recent statement criticizing the

Russian customs officials' confiscation of Amnesty International's reports on human rights

violations in Chechnya as anti-Russian government propaganda in May. To date, despite repeated Amnesty requests, Russian officials have not released the documents.

 My remarks will cover the new increased level of torture in Chechnya in the context

of Russia's armed conflict in the Russian Republic of Chechnya. I will highlight a few

selected cases of torture. I will also examine the larger context of systemic problems with

torture and ill-treatment in Russia, allegations of human rights violations by Chechen

armed groups, and make recommendations for eliminating torture to the Russian Government and the US government.

 According to the definition of torture in the United Nations Convention Against Torture, the three essential elements include: (1) infliction of severe mental or physical pain

or suffering; (2) by or with the consent of state authorities; and (3) behavior for a specific

purpose, such as gaining information, punishment, or intimidation. Torture may be distinguished from other forms of ill-treatment by the degree of suffering involved and the

need for a purposive element.

 TORTURE BY RUSSIAN FORCES RELATED TO THE ARMED CONFLICT IN

CHECHNYA

 Amnesty International continues to collect evidence of daily human rights abuses in

Chechnya. Despite recent Russian government assurances that all crimes against civilians will be investigated, all perpetrators remain unpunished. Amnesty International's

research team visited North Ossetia and Ingushetia last month, which are neighboring

provinces of Chechnya, and Amnesty received new disturbing testimonies from survivors

of secret Russian filtration camps.

 We confirmed that Russian forces are constantly detaining people at checkpoints in

Chechnya and in the territories under their control, either during so-called cleansing

operations in newly-occupied towns or during identity checks on civilian convoys traveling from Chechnya to neighboring Ingushetia. People are most often detained for not having proper registration and a residence permit, or on suspicion of belonging to armed

Chechen groups. Women are also detained on suspicion of being related to Chechen fighters. At one point the Russian official policy was to arrest all Chechen males over age 10 to

be automatically treated as rebels. People detained by Russian forces are then sent to

various secret filtration camps where they are held without access to their relatives,

lawyers, or the outside world.
22

 Detainees in secret filtration campsmen, women, and childrenare routinely

and systematically tortured: they are raped, beaten with hammers and clubs, tortured

with electric shocks and tear gas, their teeth are sawed off and some are simultaneously

beaten around both ears to burst the ear drums.

 These filtration camps are not actual police stations or prisonsthey are makeshift operations without the basic living facilities properly to house detainees. Some known

camps are hastily constructed, for example, out of a poultry processing plant, the basement of a café, or train carriages (see appendix I).

 Detainees are usually released after a bribe that the family of the detainee pays,

with the price varying from hundreds to thousands of dollars. Filtration camps have also

turned into an unofficial business, where the detained are effectively sold by the camp

authorities. Amnesty knows of only one case where a person was released from a filtration camp without being bought out by a relative or friend.

 Meanwhile, the Russian government has failed to allow independent observers to

access filtration camps and tries to hide the problems. Amnesty heard of one case where a

delegation was visiting and the detainees were placed in an ambulance in the back of the

building all day without food or water until the delegation left town. The Russian government has rejected any allegations of torture in Russia so far.

 The following cases are selected from dozens of cases documented by Amnesty International. The appendix includes: a list of filtration camps currently known; cases of probable death in custody; and lists of detainees in filtration camps. More Amnesty documents are available at our web site at www.amnesty.org.

 CASE OF ZELIMKHAN

 Twenty-year-old Zelimkhan was detained on 6 May at his parents' house in the

town Urus-Martan by a group of about 15 Russian federal forces officers, allegedly members of the special detachments (OMON). He was taken to the outskirts of Komsomolskoye

village, ordered to take off his clothes, handcuffed and forced onto his knees. Zelimkhan

was beaten with clubs for about two hours by four OMON officers while the rest of the

group watched and laughed. He was asked to sign a confession stating he was a Chechen

fighter and that he took part in fighting. Later the same day, Zelimkhan was taken to the

Internat filtration camp.

 In the Internat filtration camp, he was brutally gang-raped by four or five OMON

officers. Zelimkhan was blindfolded and handcuffed and ordered to lay on a table face

down before being sodomized with wooden clubs and the butt of machine-guns. He was

also repeatedly kicked in the area of the genitals while asked to stand naked by a wall.

Zelimkhan said the officers also squeezed his genitals, repeatedly saying they would

make him handicapped and incapable of producing children. He was questioned by an

investigator who had ordered the rape, and asked to sign a confession that he was a Chechen

fighter, which he refused.

 Zelimkhan was released on 13 May for the sum of $300 after being forced by the

Internat authorities to sign a document claiming that he had not been subjected to illtreatment. After his release he was immediately hospitalized. In a statement the doctors

treating him concluded that he had sustained numerous bruises and haematomas in the

area of his ribs and chest and in the area of his kidneys, and that he needed treatment by

a urologist because of an inflammation and infection in the genitals.

 Zelimkhan also told Amnesty International that detainees in the Internat have
23

their ears pierced with sharp nails. Children were also tortured and ill-treated in the

Internat. Zelimkhan witnessed how 15-year-old Timur, a student at School No. 4 in

UrusMartan, was severely beaten by the guards and a number of his ribs were broken.

Timur was apparently detained together with his uncle, who was suspected of being a

Chechen fighter. Eventually Timur was released when the family paid $700 to the guards.

Zelimkhan also told Amnesty about his cell mate Rustam Gandarov, who was detained

three times and was released only after his relatives paid $3,500.

 CASE OF MUSA

 The testimony of a survivor of the Chernokozovo filtration camp, given under the

name of 'Musa' is illustrative of the situation existing in the camp early this year. Musa

was detained with 10 other men on 16 January in the village of Znamenskiy in Chechnya.

While traveling on a bus with his mother and brother, Musa was taken to the Temporary

Department of Internal Affairs in the village of Znamenskiy and kept there overnight

with other detainees. On 17 January the whole group was taken to a filtration camp in

Chernokozovo.

 Musa told Amnesty: The guards started beating us from the minute we entered

the camp. There were about 2025 men in masks in the camp yard, standing in two lines

and forming a live chain, something like a 'human corridor'. We were pushed through this

corridor and each of the guards began hitting us with clubs. Then they ordered us to

completely undress and we were forced into a freezer room, previously used for freezing

meat. They kept us there naked for a while and then ordered us to dress up and get out.

They began beating us again in the corridor outside the freezer. They continued beating

us in the cell, too. During this first night in the camp I was beaten four times.

 The next day, 18 January, we were forced to run through the live chain of armed

guards in masks in the corridor in front of our cells. Some of the guards were armed with

sledge hammers, the rest had clubs. When I ran through their corridor, somebody hit me

on the back with a hammer. The pain was so strong, that I was not even able to feel any

pain during all the rest of the beatings with clubs. This is when my spine was broken.

 During the night it was impossible to sleep because of the screams you could hear

from other cells. I was brought to the office of the investigator in order to sign a confession

that I was a fighter or that I had aided them. I was told by the guards that I have answer to

any questions by the investigator. When I entered his office there were two electric wires

hanging from the ceiling. They threatened me that if I did not confess and sign the papers

I would be electrocuted. The guards pushed my face onto the wires and at that moment I

passed out.

 Musa told Amnesty International that he saw a man in his cell whose hands were

severely burned by the prison guards with cigarette lighters. Another of his cellmates, a

17-year-old teenager, had his teeth sawed off with a metal file by the guards and his lips

were shredded. He could not speak, eat or drink. Several other people among his cellmates

had burst eardrums as a result of torture. This torture method involves the prisoner being

hit simultaneously on both sides of the head in the area of his ears. Musa remembered a

young Chechen student in Moscow, who had been detained on the train to Moscow while

traveling to attend university exams. The student was so badly beaten, according to Musa,

that he had lost his mind.

 The soldiers often told us, 'even if you get out of here alive, you will certainly be

handicapped.' An independent medical examination of Musa after his release concluded
24

that he had a fractured spine. He suffered serious bruises on his abdomen, and on his

spinal column, and suffers abdominal pains and a serious head trauma.

 CASE OF RAZMIK NAGDALIAN

 The problem of persecution of ethnic Chechens and others from the Caucasus exists

not only in the Russian Caucasus but also throughout the vast territory of Russia. Amnesty International has received a number of reports about incidents of torture and illtreatment by the police of Chechens and other people from the Caucasus taken into custody following routine identity checks on the street or in their homes. Amnesty is not

aware of any convictions based on criminal investigations by the authorities into the allegations of torture and ill-treatment of Chechens in custody. Torture and ill-treatment

have reportedly often been used to induce a detainee to sign a confession relating to possession of drugs or weapons. Sometimes, ill-treatment occurs without any obvious reason,

in what appear to be racist attacks. Alleged victims of torture and ill-treatment in custody

were mainly Chechen adult men, but cases of ill-treatment of women and adolescents

under 18, were also reported.

 Razmik Nagdalian is an Armenian born in Azerbaijan, who moved to Moscow in 1994.

Razmik Nagdalian became ill at the age of 31 and is registered as an invalid. He has a

brain tumor and epilepsy. On 23 September he was walking on the street near Savelievsky

train station in Moscow when three officers of the special police detachments (OMON)

asked for his documents. Razmik Nagdalian showed his passport but the OMON officers

thought his type of registration was suspicious. The men took him into a square, forced his

arm behind his back and swore at him, saying: Don't you know whose land you are living

on? They beat him with their fists and kicked him around his kidneys and to his head.

Razmik Nagdalian said that he hit a wall and fell on the ground. His head was cut. The

officers took his passport and ripped it. At this point he lost consciousness. Razmik

Nagdalian said that he did not know if it was an epileptic crisis or not.

 When he gained consciousness he found himself on the ground with a severe headache and the jacket he was wearing was all bloody. The next day that he went to the local

polyclinic and obtained a medical certificate that registered the injuries he had suffered

as a result of the beating. He went with his complaint to the duty officer at police department No. 14, but no investigation ever took place.

 The purpose of torture in Chechnya is similar to torture in generalto extract confessions or extract testimony incriminating others. An underlying reason for the torture

is to attempt to break the personal spirit of an individual. A terrible aspect of the torture

is that people are held incommunicado in these detention centers for days, without access

to relatives, medical care, or a lawyer.

 OVERALL CONTEXT OF TORTURE IN RUSSIA

 I would like to separate out the torture occurring around events in Chechnya (i.e. in

the context of an armed conflict) from the broader pattern of torture and ill-treatment in

the Russian Federation. Torture in Chechnya represents the special problem of a war

zone (or technically an internal armed conflict) where the problem is extreme, including

new types of torture that Amnesty has not previously recorded such as the filing of teeth

with a metal saw. In Russia in general there are broad systemic problems with torture

and ill-treatmentbut the conflict in Chechnya represents an increase in frequency and

severity of torture incidents. Torture in the context of an armed conflict could be con-
25

trolled through the command structure of the Russian military and police forces. Responding to the current level of torture and ill-treatment is a test of the professionalism and the

military competence of the Russian security forces. They are failing miserably.

 For instance, Russian officials have long claimed that brutal hazing or dedovshina in

the Russian military only occurs rarely and is not an official policy. But the current systematic and routine torture in the context of an armed conflict in Chechnya, if it is not an

official policy, should be an error that Russia's military command structure can eliminate.

It is being perpetrated with complete impunity.

 The nationwide problem of torture and ill-treatment in Russia is fueled by the overall political and economic crisis. As Russia continues to reinvent itself after the old totalitarian Soviet system, Russia has not yet successfully put in place systemic criminal justice

reforms, leaving thousands of people gravely mistreated.

 As Amnesty documented in its landmark 1997 report, This Man-Made Hell, on torture in Russia, structural problems in the Russian criminal justice system facilitate torture.

 Torture and ill-treatment are fostered by: an over-reliance on confessions for evidence; pressure on police to solve crimes without resources to conduct forensic investigations; outrageous overcrowding in pre-trial detention centers, and ill-equipped and under-funded prisons. Other factors that enhance torture include an underdeveloped culture of rule of law resulting arbitrary decision-making; a breakdown in discipline leading

dedovshina or brutal hazing in the armed forces; and impunity for abuses in the system.

 According to the 1999 Department of State Country Reports on Human Rights Practices on Russia, There are credible reports that law enforcement personnel regularly use

torture to extract confessions from suspects, and that the Government does not hold most

of them accountable for their actions.

 Torture is carried out in at least three phases in the criminal justice system in Russia. First, in police custody, police routinely torture and ill-treat suspects. Innocent people,

sometimes no more than passers-by, regularly become victims of abuse. Those more likely

to be ill-treated are the less educated and the less privileged: ethnic minorities, the unemployed, vagrants, peasants, women, adolescents, and in some cases the disabled. A general feeling of impunity and state protection is apparently experienced by police officers.

 Police officers use torture methods including asphyxiation, known in Russian as slonik

(elephant), beatings, and special methods of physical restraint, known as lastochka (swallow) or konvert (envelope). In the torture method slonik, a gas mask is put on the suspect. The flow of oxygen is restricted or cut off repeatedly until the suspect suffocates and

agrees to confess. This torture method is called elephant because of the resemblance of

the suspect wearing a gas mask to the animal. In another torture method, lastochka, the

suspect's hands are handcuffed behind the back, and in konvert, the victim's legs are pulled

up to his head.

 Second, after police custody, many detainees are transferred to vastly overcrowded

pre-trial detention centers. The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture said: The senses of

smell, touch, taste and sight are repulsively assailed. The conditions are cruel, inhuman

and degrading; they are torturous.

 Third, in prisons, violations often continue. The Russian Government's own Human

Rights Ombudsman Oleg Mironov reported that 50 percent of prisoners with whom he

spoke in 1998 claimed to have been tortured. Prisons continue to be grossly overcrowded

and thousands of prisoners have no individual bed and have to sleep in two or three shifts,
26

often without bedding. Many cells are filthy and pest-ridden, with inadequate light and

ventilation. Food and medical supplies are frequently inadequate. The unsanitary conditions mean that illness spreads rapidly. Lung, circulatory and skin diseases, especially

tuberculosis and scabies, are widespread. According to reports, the Stalin-era prison

system's practice of press-camera continues to be common in a number of prisons and

detention centers, whereby prison officials and guards use some prisoners to brutalize

other prisoners to control or punish them in return for special privileges.

 Torture and ill-treatment are also common is in the military. The violent and cruel

hazing of young recruits, at best, involves forcing recruits to perform menial tasks, often

outside official duties. At worst, it leads to beatings, torture, murder, and suicide. Military authorities and official documents hide the real problem of ill-treatment in the Russian army with euphemisms such as non-regulation relations between servicemen, or

characterize it as a practice of abuse of young soldiers by old soldiers. In fact, not only

soldiers but also officers of the armed forces continue to permit, encourage and often

participate in the ill-treatment.

 ALLEGATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS BY CHECHEN ARMED

GROUPS

 There have been reports of violations of international humanitarian law by

 Chechen armed groups, primarily by Russian official sources, but there are serious

difficulties in investigating them, including the lack of independent information and witness accounts of such incidents. In one instance, the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed

that Chechen civilians have been killed by Chechen armed groups for refusing to allow

them into their village. There have also been reports that Chechen armed groups have

prevented people from leaving Chechnya, and that they are using civilians as human

shields and are making them dig fortifications. It was reported that on November 28,

1999 unarmed Chechen civilians in the village of Gekhi came under direct fire by Chechen

fighters and at least five people were wounded in the attack. Reportedly, in the weeks

prior to this incident the Chechen fighters had frequently entered the village in order to

fire on the nearby Russian forces' positions and then immediately withdraw.

 CONCLUSION

 Torture and ill-treatment are a huge problem in Russia, but the escalating rate and

severity of torture in the context of filtration camps related to the armed conflict in Chechnya is highly alarming.

 Many policymakers may be hoping that the Chechen conflict will blow over and the

US government can establish a productive relationship with Russian President Vladimir

Putin. But although the main fighting may be over, the torture problem will not go away,

and in fact may increase. As the war moves to a more low-intensity conflict, the Russian

forces will be challenged tactically how to respond. After a small attack by a Chechen

armed group, Russian forces will continue to travel to the closest village and round up

innocent victims to torture them to force them to reveal information about the identity,

location, and weapons of the fighters or to confess to the attack.

 President Putin and the Russian Government have not shown a willingness to punish torture and abuses by the Russian army. According to Amnesty's knowledge, not a

single person was convicted for violations in the first Chechen War or has been convicted

for the current war. Russia wants engagement with the West and financial investment.
27

The United States Government and the international community must demand human

rights changes as the price of respectability and full participation in international institutions. US officials, particularly the Department of Defense, should raise the issue of torture with the Russian military in the context of professionalism, command and control

and demand change.

 Under the current situation of torture in Chechnyaanyone could be picked up by

the Russian security forces and tortured. Anyone could be a victim. This is a clarion call

the horrendous torture problem will not go away and may get worse.

 RECOMMENDATIONS

 To the Russian Government:

 Immediately release the names of all detained and the locations of all filtration

camps. Grant current detainees access to relatives, medical care and lawyers.

 End the unofficial practice of accepting bribes to release detainees.

 Ensure full and appropriate access to all detainees by the International Committee of the Red Cross, international monitors and journalists in Chechnya, including access to filtration camps. Provide security guarantees and access to humanitarian aid groups in Chechnya.

 Implement the resolution from the April session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights for establishing a national, broad-based and independent

commission of inquiry with the capacity for a thorough and impartial investigation.

Submit a report promptly to the member states of the United Nations Commission

on Human Rights.

 Investigate all reports of arbitrary detention, ill-treatment, and torture and prosecute those who have committed crimes. Bring individuals responsible for those

violations to justice and award reparations to those who have been unlawfully detained.

 Invite the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, the Special Rapporteur

on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions, the Special Rapporteur on violence against Women, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on internally displaced persons and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict.

 Stop the campaign of intimidation against ethnic Chechens and other people from

the Caucasus who reside in Moscow and other parts of the Russian Federation.

 Enforce the 1998 Russian Federation Constitutional Court's decision that the use

of residence permits and resident registration system is illegal.

 Establish an effective system of independent inspection of all places of detention.

 Improve conditions in pre-trial detention, including limiting the period of detention pending trial. Make effective use of the system of release on bail.

 To the U. S. Government:

 Raise the issue of torture at senior levels, including from the CSCE Commissioner

from the Department of Defense with his Russian military counterparts, as a breach

of the professional conduct of the Russian armed forces and a violation of international and Russian law.
28

 Urge the Russian Government to implement the resolution from the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, including:

 Give Russia a deadline to submit a report on its commission of inquiry to investigate violations of humanitarian law and human rights and to bring those responsible to justice.

 Urge Russia to invite the United Nations thematic rapporteurs (see recommendations to Russia).

 Collect information in the State Department's Office on War Crimes on violations

of human rights and humanitarian law in Chechnya.

 Send monitors to the Caucasus to visit filtration camps, and collect information

on human rights violations and humanitarian needs.

 Support the re-establishment of the office of the OSCE Assistance Group in Chechnya.

 Ensure a vigorous implementation of the Leahy Laws to ensure that no funding

from the Foreign Operations Appropriations Act flows to any security unit that

has committed gross human rights violations until the perpetrators are brought to

justice. The State Department needs to devote sufficient resources to tracking human rights violations by security units. All law enforcement officials, lawyers and

judges who are selected for US training should be screened to ensure they have not

committed human rights violations. Further, vigorously implement the Department of Defense version of the Leahy Laws to ensure that no Russian security

units that have committed human rights violations can participate in American

military training or joint exercises.
29

APPENDIX ILIST OF KNOWN LOCATIONS OF SECRET FILTRATION

CAMPS

 The pre-trial detention center (SIZO) known as the White Swan, (Beliy Lebed) in

the city of Pyatigorsk, in Stavropol Territory; on the premises of a former school in

the town of Urus-Martan (the so-called Internat);

 a makeshift detention facility in the village of Znamenskoye, allegedly located in

the basement of a building situated behind the local government building;

 at the Russian army checkpoint in the Chechen village of TolstoyYurtit is apparently a pit dug in the ground;

 a fruit warehouse in TolstoyYurt;

 in the village of Gorogorsk, on the premises of a former oil factory (known as

NGDU);

 in the village of KadiYurt;

 in a poultry processing plant in the Chechen village of ChiriYurt;

 in the basement of the Chekhkar café in ChiriYurt;

 in the town of Mozdok in Stavropol Territory

 in the town of Grigorievsk in Stavropol Territory;

 and in the Chechen capital, Grozny, including two detention facilities in the Leninsky

district of Grozny, in the buildings of the car factory there (in buildings PAP1

and PAP5);

 in the village of Chernokozovo, now reportedly under the jurisdiction of the Russian Ministry of Justice.

 four train carriages parked in the Chechen village of Stanitsa Chervlyonnaya

APPENDIX IIINDIVIDUALS THOUGHT TO BE IN DETENTION IN SECRET

FILTRATION CAMPS, OR THOUGHT TO HAVE DIED IN DETENTION

 Adam Abubakarov, 16, thought to be held in detention in the camp known as the

Internat in Urus-Martan

 Visita Vakhidovich Arsanukayev, 29; Vakha Alievich Titayev, 39; Maerbek Didayev,

42; and Valid Aliyevich Arsamerzoyev, 40

 Abubakar Ismailov; Samrudy Djabrailov; Aslanbek Zelimkhanovich Djankhutov; and

Mussa Goitaev)

 63 individuals listed in Appendix III, including Idrisov Movladi who reportedly

was killed in detention

*A note about the names:

In March, Amnesty Internationals field researcher obtained three separate lists containing the names of 63

of the 300 or so people believed to have been transferred by the Russian authorities from Chernokozovo filtration

camp to other detention facilities prior to the official visit to Chernokozovo by the Council of Europes Committee

for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) in February. The lists include the names of detainees believed to be held in

detention in the Chechen village of Kadi-Yurt, as well as of detainees who were allegedly transferred to the prison

hospital at the re-trial detention centre (SIZO) in the town of Pyatigorsk in Russias Stavropol Territory. One

detainee named in the lists, Movladi Idrisov, reportedly died in detention after being transferred to the Pyatigorsk

prison hospital. There are spelling variations and mistakes when comparing the names in the material obtained

by AI, due to the different alphabets used, different people who have written them down, and also the difficult

conditions in which the lists were compiled. The names and dates of birth given above are as accurate as possible.

Amnesty International has received no further information on the whereabouts or state of health of these individuals since March.
30

 14-year-old girl (name not known), though to have died in Chernokovozo, as a result of being raped and tortured by guards

 Sultan (not his real name), 25-year-old Chechen man, who died on 16 March from

injuries sustained as a direct result of beatings

APPENDIX IIINAMES OF DETAINEES TRANSFERRED FROM

CHERNOKOZOVO FILTRATION CAMP TO OTHER SECRET FILTRATION

CAMPS IN FEBRUARY 2000*

Names of Detainees Believed to have Transferred to A Detention Facility in the

Chechen Village of Kadi-yurt:

Names of Detainees (Women Marked with an F) Believed to have been

Transferred to the Prison Hospital at the Pre-trial Detention Centre (Sizo)

in Pyatigorsk:

SH

D,

D,

N,

S

.

1. Bakayanov Ramzanborn 1979

2. Zarbarayev Vadadi1951

3. Yandarov Kureish1961

4. Edisultanov Usman1978

5. Barzayev Arsan1977

6. Khamzayev Ibragim1977

7. Bisultanov Vakha1977

8. Ibashev Ramzan1976

9. Kazayev Musa 1977

10. Vitrigov Said-Ramat1956

11. Samalbayev Sabir 1979

12. Imayev Rasul 1979

13. Akayev Magomed 1975

14. Aliyev Buta 1976

15. Aliyev Badrudi 1975

16. Vadayev Islam 1983

17. Aliyev Emal1976

18. Kurameyev Rustam1977

19. Kitev Mansur1977

20. Asayev Delimkhan1970

21. Dadayev Makharbek1957 (or 1951)

22. Saiyev Edik1963

23. Rasayev Savarbek1971

24. Baytayev Arbi 1982

25. Gumichayev Dokka 1979

26. Bisultanov Rasul

27. Aleroyev Aslanbek 1961

28. Matiyev Ramzan

29. Sadayev Aslanbek 1971

30. Ibakhiyev Ramzan 1976

31. Titiyev Mukhtar

32. Azizov Magomed1981

33. Baskhanov Elbek1976

34. Tsedayev Bashir

35. Baymaskhanov Alik

36. Shakhmirzayev Lyomi

37. Musitova Zareta f

38. Labazanova Raisa f

39. Magomadova Laila f

40. Makhmadova Aset f

41. Salaudanova Vazilya f

42. Sushmanov Khasan

43. Kediyev Yusup1979

44. Batsaligov Anzor

45. Suleymanov Khusein

46. Asantayev Daibek 1978

47. Ilyasov Ruslan 1963

48. Yakhayev Bislan 1974

49. Aliyev Said Magomed1981

50. Gubayev Bisman1984

51. Kusuyev Umar

52. Kasanov Zelimkhan 1970

53. Teriyev Alikhan 1979

54. Khasuyev Artur 1983

55. Isayev Usman1977

56. Kesimigov Uvais 1977

57. Satayev Dezirbek 1979

58. Idrisov Movladikilled

59. Garavlikov Vlad1948

60. Atazov Khamid1975

61. Gekayev Lechi1978

62. Gekayev Arbi 1978

63. Bakayev Rashid1978
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