25 October 2021
By Pavel Chikov, head of the Agora international human rights group
Source: Moscow Helsinki Group [original source: t.me/pchikov]
The Judicial Department of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation has published statistics for the first six months of 2021.
According to the published figures, over six months, 298 staff of law enforcement agencies were found guilty of exceeding their authority by using violence or special equipment (Article 286, Part 3, Points a and b, of the Russian Criminal Code). The persons convicted are officers of the Interior Ministry, the Federal Penitentiary Service, and so on.
It should be noted that in the first half of 2020, the number of such convictions was 252. This means that, in spite of the restrictions imposed by Covid-19, the growth in the number of convictions has been 18%.
There had been a consistent downward trend in the number of those convicted of torture since 2010. This is the first time in a decade that this has been replaced by an increase.
Translated by Simon Cosgrove
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