By Country / Russia
Russian Lawyers Say Nalchik Detainees Tortured
December 05, 2005
5 December 2005 -- Lawyers for people arrested in the wake of the 13 October militant raid on Nalchik, in Russia's North Caucasus region, say they have collected evidence that their clients are being tortured in police custody.
Russia's "Gazeta" daily quotes London-based lawyer Aleksandra Zernova as saying she and other lawyers have sent rights groups recent photographs of their clients with swollen faces. She said this is evidence detainees are being tortured.
Zernova said her own client, Rasul Kudaev, has a broken leg and cannot walk.
The U.S.-based Human Rights Watch group last month said it had collected evidence that at least eight detainees were subjected to ill-treatment that, in some cases, "may amount to torture."
Russian authorities say they have arrested nearly 50 people after the Nalchik unrest. But they deny using torture.
(gazeta/lenta.ru