Chechnya: tortures in Chernokozovo not confirmed

Representatives of the office of the Ombudsman in the Chechen Republic, who have visited Colony No. 2 located in the settlement of Chernokozovo, the Naur District of the Republic, found no confirmation of the data about tortures and beatings of the prisoners who are kept in this corrective establishment.

One of the employees of the Ombudsman's office told in his conversation with the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent:

"My conversation with the inmates was open and confidential, everything was filmed, but I failed to find any confirmation of the information disseminated by Ruslan Kutaev. None of them complained of custody conditions or of application of unlawful pressure methods," the interlocutor asserts. "Moreover, I couldn't find any of the 124 persons who have allegedly signed the complaint lodged to Kutaev."

"I don't think that tortures and torments are really applied to inmates in Chernokozovo," Mr Movsarov, a resident of Grozny whose nephew serves his term at the Chernokozovo Colony, said to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. "Anyway, my nephew who is imprisoned there has never complained of that. Chernokozovo inmates were indeed severely tortured several years ago. <...> But today, times are absolutely different."

Nevertheless, the interlocutor could not exclude that such a problem as joint custody of HIV-infected and TB patients with other inmates in Chernokozovo really exists.

"However, this problem is present practically in all prisons and colonies of Russia. Even if it really is the case, Chechnya is not a pioneer here," Mr Movsarov thinks.