MOSCOW, November 26 - RAPSI. The UN Committee Against Torture (CAT) has found that torture is employed in the Russian law enforcement system, in the military and in families and has proposed that Russia should introduce a notion of "torture" as a separate crime to the Criminal Code and should stipulate the punishment of officials at all levels for using it, Kommersant daily reported.

During the October 29 - November 23 CAT session in Geneva, the committee considered the report Russia submitted in late 2010, on complying with the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

Since then, as the head of the Russian delegation Georgy Matyushkin said, Russia has been very successful in ensuring the guarantees stipulated by the convention.
In its report, the UN committee welcomed Russia's establishment of the Investigative Committee and non-governmental monitoring commissions which oversee detention wards, and the amendments to the Criminal Code mitigating punishment for economic crimes.

In 2006, following the discussion of a report from Russia, the committee recommended introducing the notion of "torture" as a separate crime, but this was never seen through.

The UN has requested to be provided with data on the number of complaints of tortures committed by law enforcement officers and state officials, as well as information as to how many of these cases had been investigated.

The committee has demanded that the investigation of Sergei Magnitskys death be seen through to its end and has recommended videoing all interrogations and setting up video surveillance in all detention wards.

Hermitage Capital Fund lawyer Sergei Magnitsky was charged with planning large-scale corporate tax evasion. He died in a pretrial detention center on November 16, 2009 after spending a year behind bars. His death sparked a public outcry.

The committee has condemned the requirement for NGOs funded from abroad to be called foreign agents, the extension of the definition for state treason and the prosecution of human rights activists. It recommends that Russia should amend the legislation in this area.

Russia should present information on the fulfillment of these recommendations by December 23, 2013.