High Commissioner visited SIZO in Grozny
On September 20, High Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation Tatiana Moskalkova together with Commissioner for Human Rights in the Chechen Republic Nurdi Nukhazhiev visited Pretrial Detention Center No.1 (
The High Commissioner met with relatives of detainees who had come to hand over the products, talked with the prisoners and their lawyers, inspected the store, the medical unit, the visiting rooms and the cells.
According to Tatiana Moskalkova, the conditions of detention in the SIZO correspond to European standards, there were no complaints about the conditions of detention. There is an information folder with samples of applications and contact details of government agencies and the High Commissioner for Human Rights in each cell; there is a good material base; a grocery assortment and prices in the store as a whole meet the average prices within the region. The SIZO is designed for 500 people and is filled almost half, which contributes to the observance of the rights and legitimate interests of the persons held there.
At the same time, the inspection revealed a lack of sufficient number of video recorders for the SIZO staff. In addition, the High Commissioner noted the systemic problem of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia as a whole — a short period of storage of video materials from surveillance cameras and insufficient storage capacity of data storage equipment. As a result, in case of controversial situations, it is not always possible to investigate video materials.
