In a new report report launched on Tuesday the UN independent expert on human rights in Russia exposes alarming patterns of torture used as a State-sanctioned tool of repression to stifle dissent and intimidate communities abroad.
Just ahead of presenting her report to the General Assembly, Mariana Katzarova, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation , sat down with UN News's Nargiz Shekinskaya and underlined that "torture is used as a State sanctioned tool for systematic oppression, to maintain control and to stifle dissent."
According to her research, this goes beyond isolated cases. Torture is frequently aimed at political prisoners, critics of the ongoing war in Ukraine, and migrant communities worldwide.
Normalisation of torture
One of the report's most unsettling revelations is the portrayal of torture in Russian media.
The independent expert described the aftermath of a March terrorist attack in Moscow, where members of the Tajik minority "who haven't been tried yet and haven't been found guilty" were tortured through electric shocks and mutilation.
Following the broadcast, there were reports of law enforcement carrying out widespread sweeps, arresting and allegedly abusing migrant workers from Central Asia.
LGBTQIA+ individuals in Chechnya have also received brutal treatment from State officials there. Ms. Katzarova reported that members of the LGBTQIA+ community were systematically detained, tortured, and threatened with death unless they agreed to volunteer as soldiers in Ukraine.
