The history of the investigation into the brutal beating of convicted Evgeniy Makarov by employees of the Yaroslavl IK-1 - this video recording was widely distributed in the media and social networks - clearly reflects the state’s attitude to the suppression of violence by employees of law enforcement and penitentiary systems. The Federal Penitentiary Service ordered an internal investigation, and the Yaroslavl Investigative Committee opened a criminal case only after the video caused a wide public outcry - a year earlier the case was refused. The story of the investigation into Makarov's beating puts into particular context the report by Russian officials on compliance with the UN Convention against Torture, which is due to be presented this week at the UN Committee against Torture: it demonstrates the complete vulnerability of those who dare to complain about torture.

In the recording made on the regular video recorder of a FSIN employee, Makarov is beaten on the heels with a rubber truncheon, and when he loses consciousness, he is revived by pouring water on him. People dressed in the uniform of FSIN officers demand an apology from him, and upon hearing them, they continue to beat him, explaining that he is apologizing incorrectly. This is not the first episode of the beating of Makarov and other convicts of IK-1: a resonant video was filmed after Makarov complained to the Investigative Committee, the prosecutor’s office and the Federal Penitentiary Service about torture in April 2017, but to no avail. Investigator Radion Svirsky, who studied the same video recording, decided that the employees of IK-1 acted within the limits of their authority, Novaya Gazeta reports.

Torture remains in widespread demand among FSIN and police officers who “punish” convicts or extort testimony from detainees. Makarov’s case is unique only because of the presence of irrefutable evidence, notes Natalya Taubina from the Public Verdict Foundation, whose lawyers are defending Makarov. Judicial statistics show that it is extremely rare to bring the perpetrators to justice: the number of those convicted is negligible and an order of magnitude less than the number of appeals of Russian victims of torture to the ECHR (refusals to initiate proceedings against Makarov’s torturers continued even after the ECHR demanded interim measures - in particular , hold an investigation).

The system does not provide protection either from torture or from the consequences of a complaint against it, note human rights activists - the authors of the non-governmental report, which will be presented to the UN Committee simultaneously with the official report of Russia. Russia pays fines awarded by the ECHR to victims of torture, but measures of a systemic nature - that is, correcting the conditions that make torture possible - and punishing perpetrators are either ineffective or symbolic.

Why torture doesn't go away