Torture Scandal In Russia

Just before President Bush's trip to the G8 and his meeting with Vladamir Putin earlier this month, Copely News Service reported (via Nexis, no link):

The Kremlin also played diplomatic hard ball in advance of the summit, sending signals that it would be very public in its criticisms of U.S. policies if Bush publicly lectured it on democracy. Russian officials threatened to lecture Bush on U.S. practices at the Guantanamo detention facility and the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, said Sarah Mendelson, a Russia expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Hmmm. That certainly makes this article from the Moscow Times verrrry interesting:

GROZNY -- Beatings with bottles, sleep deprivation and threats of violence against relatives are all routine forms of torture in detention centers in Chechnya, former inmates say.

Though Russian government officials deny systematic abuse of prisoners, rights groups say abuse is frequent in Chechnya, where rebels have fought Moscow's rule for over 10 years.

Chechens detained on suspicion of backing the rebels said they would never recover from their experiences, especially at a notorious facility in the regional capital, Grozny, which even Russia's Chechen allies have insisted should be closed.

Housed in a four-story gray building guarded by towers with machine-gun nests and a concrete fence, Operational Investigation Bureau No. 2, or ORB-2, comes under the direct authority of the Russian Interior Ministry.

"The cell walls were smeared with blood. They chained me to a hot radiator. Then they started to conduct inhuman tortures. The same demands over and over," Ali Techiyev, 21, who accused of fighting against Russia, said in a written statement.

"They beat me with a sand-filled bottle over the head, the feet, the kidneys and other parts of my body. The torturers changed over every night. They got tired beating me," he said.

No surprises there, eh? It just goes to show: Before you call the kettle black, best take a look in the mirror. America sets a high bar with its standards.

Related Tags: Russia, Putin, Chechnya, Abu Ghraib, Torture