Russia Officially Withdraws From Europe’s Anti-Torture Convention

Moscow Times ^ | 11/3/2026 | Unnamed

[tlozo]

Independent international monitoring of detention facilities in Russia has come to an end with the country’s formal withdrawal from the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture, the Council of Europe said on Sunday.

In a statement, the Council of Europe said inspectors from the convention had carried out 30 visits to more than 450 detention facilities in Russia during the 23 years it was a member. Russia, however, permitted the publication of only four visit reports over that period.

“Russia may authorize the publication of [the remaining] reports at any time,” the statement read, noting that the unpublished reports relate to 10 visits to the republic of Chechnya and the remaining North Caucasus regions between 2000 and 2017.

Per convention rules, Russia’s withdrawal took effect on Nov. 1, one year after Moscow formally notified the Council of Europe of its decision.

Russia ratified the anti-torture treaty in 1998, two years after joining the Council of Europe. It was expelled from the Council of Europe in March 2022 following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The Council of Europe said the convention received “numerous accounts of alleged acts of torture and ill-treatment” across detention centers and penal colonies in Russian-occupied Ukraine and within Russia itself.

“However, due to the non-cooperation of the Russian authorities, the CPT has been unable to conduct a visit to the Russian Federation to examine the situation for itself,” it said.

Russia also withdrew from the European Convention on Human Rights in 2022, ending its jurisdiction under the European Court of Human Rights.

Rights groups have warned that exiting the treaty removes the last remaining international safeguard for inmates in Russia’s penal system. They have credited the convention for helping to ease overcrowding, improving conditions in penal colonies and securing better protection for some inmates.

Russia remains a party to the UN Convention Against Torture, which it ratified in 1985.

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TOPICS: European Union; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Russia
KEYWORDS: alreadyposted; dailycalltoprayer; inspection; putinstoogery; russia; russianbotfarm; tds; torture

[tlozo]

“However, due to the non-cooperation of the Russian authorities, the CPT has been unable to conduct a visit to the Russian Federation to examine the situation for itself,”

"The withdrawal of the Russian Federation marks the end of the CPT's monitoring mandate in the country. It also marks the end of any independent monitoring of places of deprivation of liberty inside the Russian Federation."

CPT President Alan Mitchell said:

[tlozo]

Russian systemic torture/killing of Ukrainian prisoners

Journalist was tortured and had her organs removed in Russian captivity, report says - April 30, 2025

A Ukrainian journalist was tortured and killed and had her organs removed before her body was returned by her Russian captors, according to a new report by media organizations into her death.

Viktoriia Roshchyna, 27, was captured in 2023 after she traveled to the Russian-occupied region of Zaporizhzhia in eastern Ukraine to report on the illegal detention and torture of Ukrainians by Russian forces, according to the joint media report published Tuesday by the nonprofit media organization Forbidden Stories and 12 news outlets.

A forensic examination of her body revealed numerous signs of torture and ill-treatment, Yuriy Belousov, the head of the War Crimes Unit at the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s office said last week. These included “abrasions and hemorrhages on various parts of the body, a broken rib, neck injuries, and possible electric shock marks on her feet,” he said.

He added that there were signs that an autopsy had been performed before the body was returned to Ukraine. The missing organs, he said, could signal that Russia attempted to hide the cause of death, possibly to conceal that it had committed a war crime.

https://www.nbcnews.com/world/russia/russia-ukraine-war-journalist-tortured-organs-removed-report-rcna203648

[tlozo]

Russia’s Systematic Torture of Ukrainian POWs

Russian authorities and military forces have systematically tortured and ill-treated Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) at the time of their capture and throughout their detention, Human Rights Watch said today. Such abuses constitute grave violations of the Geneva Conventions that apply in international armed conflict and are war crimes.

Torture of any kind against detainees—POW, civilian or otherwise—is strictly prohibited under international law and may constitute a crime against humanity.

United Nations bodies, Ukrainian human rights organizations, and Human Rights Watch have interviewed hundreds of former POWs and the evidence indicates that their physical and psychological torture is a widespread pattern intended to break prisoners’sense of self and human dignity. Russia is holding thousands of Ukrainian POWs in atrocious conditions, deprived of adequate food, medical care, and basic hygiene.

“Russian authorities’ abhorrent systematic torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war is a serious violation of core protections under international humanitarian law,” said Holly Cartner, deputy program director at Human Rights Watch. “POWs face daily life-threatening ordeals in Russian custody, and all those responsible for these atrocities should be held to account.”

Between July and October 2025, Human Rights Watch conducted in-depth interviews with 12 former POWs captured in Donetska and Luhanska regions of Ukraine between March and July 2022. Most were interviewed in person in Ukraine, with some over the phone. Human Rights Watch also interviewed family members, human rights activists, and Ukrainian officials.

Former POWs reported abuse in multiple detention sites in Russia and Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine. They described severe beatings, stress positions, sleep deprivation, mock executions, administration of electric shocks, and attacks by dogs. They said they experienced torture from the moment of their capture throughout their time in detention.

All but one reported being subjected to sexual violence, including rape and the threat of rape, forced nudity, humiliation, and the application of electrical shocks to the genitals. One Ukrainian soldier, captured near Lysychansk in Luhanska region, said Russian soldiers mocked his tattoo, which said “Strength and Honor,” and forced him to sit on a bottle while pressing down on his shoulders.

Ukrainian soldier before and after three years of Russian captivity

A soldier who has returned from captivity undergoes medical examinations and rehabilitation at a state rehabilitation centre in the Poltava Region (Ukrainians return home absolutely exhausted and 20, 30, even 40 kilograms lighter.’)

https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/12/11/russias-systematic-torture-of-ukrainian-pows

[PGR88]

Maybe Ukraine needs to sign it.

[tlozo]

Ukraine allows international human rights bodies, such as the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT), unrestricted access to inspect detention facilities holding Russian prisoners of war.

• Ukraine's Cooperation: Kyiv permits the CPT and independent monitors to visit any detention facility on its territory at any time and automatically publishes their inspection reports.

• Russia's Position: In contrast, Russia has blocked independent access and officially withdrew from the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture (with its denunciation taking effect on November 1, 2026), ending the CPT's monitoring mandate inside Russian prisons.

[tlozo]

Maybe Ukraine needs to sign it.

Educate yourself, both Ukraine and Russia were Parties to the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture, but Russia has just withdrawn from it while Ukraine is still respecting it by allowing CPT and independent monitors to visit any detention facility on its territory at any time and automatically publishes their inspection reports.

[tlozo]

The concept of "Ukrainian torture" is a heavily utilized element of Russian disinformation designed to deflect attention from its own documented war crimes. According to international bodies like the United Nations Human Rights Office and independent fact-checkers, claims that Ukraine systematically tortures Russian prisoners are unsubstantiated myths.

While international observers have noted isolated, non-systemic incidents on both sides, there is an immense structural and verifiable difference between the two nations' practices.

The Reality Behind the Propaganda

• The Inversion Tactic: Independent organizations, including EUvsDisinfo, note that the Kremlin routinely fabricates stories of Ukrainian atrocities immediately following major revelations of Russian war crimes. This creates a "smokescreen" to muddy the waters and push a "both sides are bad" narrative to Western audiences.

• Systemic vs. Isolated: The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine has explicitly used the term "systematic" and "crimes against humanity" to describe the coordinated state policy of torture inflicted by Russian authorities on Ukrainian prisoners. It has not applied this term to Ukraine.

• Transparency and Access: Ukraine grants international monitors, humanitarian organizations, and foreign journalists regular, unhindered access to its prisoner-of-war (POW) camps. Conversely, Russia strictly denies the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) access to its detention centers.

• Coerced Testimonies: Many "myths" regarding Ukrainian brutality rely on video testimonies of swapped Russian soldiers or staged videos filmed by Russian intelligence. Human rights groups have documented that Ukrainian POWs are routinely tortured and threatened until they agree to read pre-written scripts accusing Ukraine of war crimes.

[PGR88]

its weird how you are the only guy continuously posting your anti-Russia stuff

Where do you sit? Romania? Brussels? Canada?

[dynoman]

Is Ukraine in it? They have been torturing conscripts.

[butlerweave]

Europe Tortures it’s citizens every second of the day

[Flaming Conservative]

Ukraine’s Cooperation: Kyiv permits the CPT and independent monitors to visit any detention facility on its territory at any time and automatically publishes their inspection reports

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As if they’re going to put their torture chambers on a list of detention centers. There are no clean hands in Ukraine or Russia.

[tlozo]

Is Ukraine in it? They have been torturing conscripts.

That's funny, Russians are known to be brutal to their soldiers.

Brutal punishments are being meted out to Russian soldiers no longer willing to fight for Putin

https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/28/europe/russia-deserters-ukraine-war-intl

[whitney69]

“...inside the Russian Federation.’

Who says the torture rooms are in Russia? They have their own versions of black sites and CIA prisons...just like the US.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/04/13/ukraine-russian-torture-center-kherson

wy69

[tlozo]

Drone Footage Exposes Russian Soldiers Killing Their Own Wounded on the Battlefield

A Russian soldier stands over a wounded comrade moments before allegedly executing him.

Drone footage shows a Russian soldier in a trench inspecting and attacking an injured fellow service

https://united24media.com/latest-news/drone-footage-exposes-russian-soldiers-killing-their-own-wounded-on-the-battlefield-10164

[bobbo666]

All from the same folks who “proved” that the IdF deliberately bombed and shot 100,000 kids in Gaza — in one weekend.

It ain’t torture unless there is permanent physical damage.

[dforest]

Anything and everything happens to those who don’t do Zelensky’s bidding. He wants to retain power, so he keeps the torture going. This has been going on for a long time in Ukraine.

I think this thread was posted to deflect from the reality of the torture news coming out of Ukraine. The Zeepers think that it is okay as long as others do it.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

—>Ukraine is still respecting it by allowing CPT and independent monitors to visit any detention facility on its territory at any time and automatically publishes their inspection reports.

The basement torture sites, maybe not so much... But then Ukraine is a very corrupt country.

[tlozo]

The basement torture sites, maybe not so much...

Sure, then post pictures of this basement 'torture site'. There are none