UN's HRC Special Rapporteur to request data about Zaur Dadaev's torture from Russian authorities

Juan Mendez, the Special Rapporteur of the Human Rights and Torture Issues Council (HRC) of the United Nations, has decided to request data from Russian authorities about possible torture of the person, suspected of killing Boris Nemtsov.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported, referring to official data, that five persons were detained in connection with Nemtsov's murder. On March 8, the Basmanny Court of Moscow sanctioned the arrest of Zaur Dadaev, Anzor Gubashev, Khamzat Bakhaev, Tamerlan Eskerkhanov and Shagid Gubashev. Zaur Dadaev and Anzor Gubashev have been charged with the murder.

On March 10, the Gubashev brothers and Zaur Dadaev told the members of the Public Oversight Commission (POC), who visited then in SIZO "Lefortovo", about the torture after their detention and their non-involvement in the crime. The report of Andrei Babushkin, a POC member, concludes that "there are reasonable grounds to believe that Dadaev and Gubashev brothers were exposed to torture." However, Anton Tsvetkov, the head of the Moscow POC, said that "no traces of torture and beatings have been fixed."

The above Special Rapporteur of the UN has added that prior to send a formal request to the authorities of the Russian Federation, "he should obtain a sufficient evidentiary basis on possible torture of Dadaev."

The Federation Council has urged not to consider the actions of rights defenders, who reported the torture of defendants in the case of Nemtsov's murder, as an attempt to obstruct the justice.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.