'Confirmation of Kremlin state policy' — Ukraine slams Russia's withdrawal from torture prevention convention
Russia's withdrawal from the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture "confirmed that torture is part of Kremlin state policy," Ukraine's Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said on Sept. 29.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law denouncing the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture, according to a document published earlier in the day. Two additional protocols to the convention have also been denounced.
"The path Russia has chosen is that of a repressive, murderous state. Its denunciation of the convention only confirms that torture and inhuman treatment are systemic practices of the Kremlin," Lubinets said.
The bill's explanatory note said Russia lacked a representative on the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture since 2023, after being excluded from the Council of Europe in March 2022.
Despite the decision, Russia had formally remained a party to the convention, which provided legal grounds for international pressure, the ombudsman said.
"Now, that possibility is lost as well," he added.
According to Lubinets, Moscow's move shows Russia is "deliberately avoiding" international oversight and removing mechanisms to respond to torture in Russian prisons and occupied territories holding Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) and civilians.
Russian war crimes and the torture of Ukrainian civilians and troops during the war in Ukraine have been broadly documented, even when Moscow was still a signatory to the convention.
The convention establishes a preventive mechanism allowing the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment to conduct regular and unannounced visits to detention facilities to assess conditions and treatment of detainees.
Russia has consistently undermined this mechanism by refusing to cooperate with the committee and barring its experts from entering the country, according to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry.
Last year, Lubinets said that most Ukrainian POWs who were released had never been visited by the Red Cross representatives while in Russian captivity. According to Associated Press, more than 200 Ukrainian soldiers have died in Russian prisons since the beginning of the full-scale war.
