UN Geneva - Multimedia Newsroom : HRC Press conference: Human rights in the Russian Federation

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us at this press conference.

Our speaker today is Miss Mariana Kasarova, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Republic.

In the Russian Federation.

We will begin with opening remarks by the Special Rapporteur.

Before moving to questions.

She will brief you on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation.

[Other language spoken]

I don't know why I was expecting either a totally empty room or a totally full room, but that's I want to thank you for coming to this press conference among so many busy demands and with the delay of the programme of the Council, let's let's start.

This is the third year of the mandate and this is the third report I'm presenting to the Human Rights Council.

In the meantime, as you know, I'm also reporting to the General Assembly, to the Third Committee, and for a second year, on 27th of October, I'll be presenting there my second thematic report.

The report in front of you is a compilation of my findings and examples of individual cases which demonstrate.

One of my main findings after third year, after three years monitoring the Russian Federation, is that unfortunately the repression inside Russia is escalating.

It's kind of surprising because even in the first year of the mandate, and This is why the mandate was voted by the Human Rights Council, we thought that there is no more room for escalating the repression.

The Russia is now run through a state sponsored system of fear and punishment where dissent is erased and civic space dismantled.

And still the remnants of civil society and independent media are being persecuted, prosecuted and imprisoned.

Including any anti war expression by journalists, by human rights defenders or common citizens who are using the Internet to comment on the ongoing for a 40 year war against Ukraine.

Along with the foreign agent and undesirable organisation laws, national security provisions are used as systematic tools of repression, combining stigma, penalties and isolation.

Human rights defenders, journalists, lawyers and political opponents are systematically prosecuted, tortured and silenced.

Anti war dissenters and activists are serving years in prison not for crimes but for courage.

Political prisoners face not only lengthy imprisonment but also denial of medical care.

Solitary confinement is used against them.

Prolonged 1 Navalny spent 396 days in solitary confinement as punishment.

Punitive psychiatry has returned as a tool against anti war.

Anti War voices 51 people forcibly subjected to psychiatric measures for their activism since 2022.

Journalist Maria Ponomarenko, for example, was ordered to undergo compulsory psychiatric treatment for maintaining her anti war stance, even in prison.

Crushing civil society and journalism continues and escalating.

1040 individuals and organisations are now labelled as foreign agents, stripped of income, banned from providing education and isolated.

245 organisations have been banned as undesirable, including the indigenous fund.

Botani punished for engaging with UN mechanisms in reprisals against Russian civil society for engaging with the human rights mechanisms of the UN.

Russia is the third largest gaoler of journalists worldwide.

50 are currently behind bars, some on espionage and treason charges.

Out of them 29 Ukrainian reporters.

Journalist Olga Komleva was sentenced to 12 years for reporting on protests and the war against Ukraine.

Four other journalists received 5 1/2 years prison sentences simply for reporting on the Balnis Foundation.

Exiled Sakharov Centre director Sergei Lukashevsky was sentenced in absentia to 8 years on accusations of spreading fake news about war crimes perpetrated by the Russian army.

And by the way, where the band now and destroyed Sakharov Centre in Moscow just recently, last month in the metro station was erected a monument of Stalin with the children.

While the Sakharov Centre is now in exile and in its human rights leaders, historian Yuri Dmitriev is serving 15 years while denied cancer treatment in detention, he's held rapidly deteriorating.

And this is the person who exposed one of the mass graves of the Stalinist repression.

And then he received 15 years imprisonment for that.

Because now the historical memory is being attacked by the government while distorting the historical truth about Stalinist and Soviet era crimes.

Rewriting history.

Extremism, terrorism related charges and nationalism is weaponized.

Over 150 children are now branded extremists or terrorists, some tortured into confessions.

Human rights defender Sergei Davidis was sentenced in absentia on accusations of justifying terrorism following memorial recognising detained Ukrainian Azov Battalion members as political prisoners.

Just as a punishment 85 year old human rights defender Mark Cooperman was convicted on accusations of incitement to terrorism and fined 500,000 rubles for his anti war views and human rights work.

He was facing more than 20 years imprisonment.

And thank God for the publicity we gave to this case put a spotlight.

He was just fined.

This is a an old human rights defender of of the Soviet era who is also who has a disability and nevertheless he's 85.

He was facing 20 years and over imprisonment.

Extremism laws are applied to Navalny's supporters, lawyers and even journalists covering his work, even people who went to his funeral.

LGBT people are criminalised under extremism designations.

In 2024 alone, 13 cases were opened and in 25 publishing houses were raided over LGBT themed books.

This includes the removal of art books and literature that reference LGBT experiences, including books by prominent, I would say world writers Susan Zontak and Olivia Lang.

They're banned.

State sponsored nationalism fuels discrimination and violence against women, LGBT communities, indigenous peoples, migrants and minorities.

And now counterterrorism and extremism laws are abused to punish speech, not danger.

Former deputy Alexei Goran of Sentence for justifying Terrorism was upheld in 25 for condemning the killing of Ukrainian children.

Novelist Boris Akunian, who is present with us today in Geneva and you will hear from several of these people at the special side event.

Poland and Benelux and 39 other member states are holding at 1:00, between 1:00 and 3:00 today at room 11.

So Boris Akunian will be there, along with Nobel Prize laureate for literature writer Svetlana Alexievich, whose books are banned from the school curriculum in Russia, and two journalists.

1 is Russian Alsa Kurmasheva, who spent nine months in detention.

She was only released last August in the unprecedented prisoner swap.

And a Ukrainian journalist from Radio Free Europe from occupied Crimea who spent four years in prison on fabricated charges of espionage after being tortured to confess.

He's also here with us today.

And this event will be kindly moderated by the BBC Geneva correspondent Imogen Faults.

[Other language spoken]

It's open to journalists.

Lawyers defending opposition figures are themselves prosecuted and imprisoned.

3 of Navalny's lawyers were sentenced on extremism related charges in January 2025.

Kaliningrad lawyer Maria Bonsler was detained on spurious charges of confidential cooperation with an enemy state, with a foreign state facing up to 8 years in prison simply for defending politically targeted clients, the Russian Ministry are now about the war and the aggression abroad.

As you know, I have always, from the very beginning of this mandate, stressed that there is inseparable link between the repression inside Russia and the aggression abroad, the ongoing war against Ukraine.

These are two processes that are intimately connected.

The Russian Ministry of Defence has enlisted foreign nationals now to fight in Ukraine, including traffic persons from Nepal and Sri Lanka, into the Russian army, coercing them into signing contracts through torture and threats to their lives and to their families.

Following the legislative amendments in 2024, criminal suspects accused of accused persons and convicts convicted prisoners can have their sentences commuted or prosecutions dropped if they sign military contracts to to fight in the war against Ukraine.

In September 24, for example, a cannibal convicted to 25 years imprisonment was freed after fighting in the war against Ukraine and exonerated over 1600, but maybe many more thousands, we don't know.

Ukrainian civilians remain detained by Russian forces, majority of them deported to the Russian Federation and kept incommunicado in Russian prisons with testimonies of torture, rape and killings in custody.

Ukrainian detainees detainees are being starved, tortured with electric shocks, raped and even tortured by doctors and medical personnel.

At least 206 Ukrainian prisoners of war have died in Russian captivity, their bodies showing signs of torture.

More than 19,000 and we don't know how many really.

This is what the Ukrainian side, the Ukrainian government is saying.

And the families of these children have 19,000 Ukrainian children have been forcibly deported.

Fewer than 400 have been returned back to Ukraine.

And now one of the kind of difficult to document, but the newest finding in this report, doctors and medical staff Russian have been directly involved or complicit in torture of Ukrainian detainees.

I have documented this gruesome pattern first hand by interviewing a number of former Ukrainian detainees who suffered torture in Russian detention, both civilian and prisoners of war.

Ukrainian journalist Victoria Roshina was killed in Russian detention.

Her body showed clear marks of torture and was returned to Ukraine only after six months.

In a body bag marked unidentified male with missing body parts, civilian detainee Natalia Vlasova testified she was tortured by electric shocks, repeatedly gang raped by 15 armed men, and had her teeth filed down with a metal file.

Yet the court ignored her torture and sentenced her to 18 years and two months in prison on terrorism related charges.

Edina Danilovich, another Ukrainian civilian detainee, a medical professional and a journalist, a citizen journalist abducted in 22 from Crimea, occupied Crimea, is now in prison for seven years, denied medical care despite severe pain and risk of long term harm.

And this civilian detainees, women and men, are rarely returned through the prisoners of war exchanges between Russia and Ukraine.

Very limited amount of them have ever returned because there is no mechanism for that.

And now, call for action, I will be calling today to the member states, of course, to the Russian Federation, but also to the member states of the international community.

It's clear that justice inside Russia is unattainable.

Perpetrators enjoy total impunity.

The international community must use universal jurisdiction and international mechanisms to prosecute torture and other serious crimes in their countries.

Support for independent media, human rights defenders and civil society inside and in in exile is urgently needed, including safe relocation and protection from Raffle Moore.

Recently, 50 Russian asylum seekers from United States were deported back to Moscow.

They were awaited by the security services, many of them tortured, questioned, and then they're all in detention.

Create an official and effective international mechanisms for the immediate and unconditional return of full deported Ukrainian civilians held in detention in the Russian Federation, including the deported children, regardless of the status and out or outcome of any peace talks, with due involvement of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

I think this point is extremely important because regardless of the peace talks, the Ukrainian civilian detainees who are held without charges, without trial, might not return back to Ukraine.

Similarly, all Russian political prisoners have to be released and the Ukrainian and Russian civil society, as you probably know, unprecedentedly are running already, I think for the whole year in 2025, a joint campaign called People 1st and they will be advocating at a closed briefing for Member states again on the 24th together Russian, the Russian Memorial and the Ukrainian Centre for Civil Liberties, They will be advocating for both the release of the Ukrainian civilian detainees, but also the release of the Russian political prisoners who are in prison for the only crime of voicing their opposition against the war against Ukraine.

I'm sorry, it might be longer, but at least I outlined to you the main points of the report.

I hope you have the report in front of you.

I'm ready to for your questions.

[Other language spoken]

And the Special rapporteur will now take questions.

We'll start with the journalist in the room and then we'll move on to those online.

Please state your name and the organisation before asking a question.

[Other language spoken]

Nina Larsen with AFP, thanks for this briefing.

I have two questions for you.

I wanted to ask you about the, the medical personnel who are taking part and condoning torture according to your report.

Is this so this is a new phenomenon that you that you discovered with this report.

And I'm wondering if if you see it increasing and also if it is impacting Russians in addition to to Ukrainian prisoners of war or if this is if you've only seen it impacting Ukrainians, Sorry.

And then my second, the second issue I wanted to ask you about was whether you've seen a shift in rights abuses in Russia since Putin's Putin was invited to Alaska and also to Beijing.

We've seen significantly increase in attacks on Ukraine and also incursions into neighbouring countries.

Is that is it also translating into a more brazen, brazen approach at home?

Thank you more brazen approach when it comes to rights abuses in in Russia, right Page 20 of my report is outlining the just a few examples of the individual cases of Ukrainians who were tortured by doctors or they witnessed how.

Torture happened to other detainees, by doctors, by nurses, by medical personnel.

You know, it is a new phenomenon in the sense that there was a hearsay that doctors have been involved, nurses and medical personnel was present, but there was no real facts and findings.

And I put a lot of effort in this in order to find the individuals that would testify to me and my team about what happened to them.

And then I put a lot of effort to find more testimonies already existing because a volume is needed as well.

I wanted to see whether this is widespread and systematic and in some prison colonies, which I'm giving as an example, Moldovia is one of them in Republic of Moldova in Russia, but others as well, because Ukrainian prisoners of war have been returning through the prisoner exchanges and mass.

I mean in, in bigger quantity.

There are at least 50 testimonies, but there are many more speaking about the same experiencing of torture and witnessing of a particular medical doctor, which the detainees called Doctor evil.

He's not a doctor.

He's actually kind of not, not a qualified Dr, but not a nurse.

But there is future HEPA, a paramedic.

Sorry.

[Other language spoken]

He is a paramedic, although he was the one in a doctor's role who was supposed to be the higher doctor in this prison colony.

[Other language spoken]

Torture for punishment, refusal to provide medical care, but also examples of doctors who were checking while the detainees being tortured and advising the Russian army or Security Service FSB where to apply the electrodes during electric shocks treatment or saying oh stop because he's going to die if you continue measuring the torture being present in the room.

Also, as a matter of routine, Russian doctors and nurses being silently present while the prison guards it's called Priyanka.

When the detainees are entering the prison colony, they're subjected to ill treatment just as a sport or as a showing them their place.

From the moment they leave the prison buses to enter the prison colony, the prison staff is actually on two sides.

They form something like a corridor and start beating heavily the detainees while entering the prison colony, after which they're starting a routine procedure of medical cheques or, you know, enlisting them in the in the prison colony.

This is all accompanied by torture.

And I've heard from a number of detainees that medical personnel was quietly waiting to then measure the height and the kilogrammes, the weight of these detainees.

Well before that in the same room, they were watching how they've been severely beaten or tortured with electric shocks.

So the complicity on one hand by being silent witnesses of the doctors and medical personnel, but not only that, their direct involvement in torturing detainees is what's absolutely new for me.

And one of the most striking examples.

I spoke to this guy, he's still in hospital facing, I don't know, third operation.

I think this is Andre pervasive.

This is a Ukrainian man from the east of Ukraine born in Kharkov, in a small village outside Kharkov.

And as you know, this is the bordering with Russia region.

They'll even I asked him, do you speak Ukrainian?

[Other language spoken]

I don't speak Ukrainian, but during the interview said I don't speak Ukrainian that well.

We all speak Russian because we're, you know, from Kharkiv region.

This man was called in to the Ukrainian army.

He went to fight in the war to defend their country.

He was, you know, wounded.

And this is the way he was taken prisoner of war.

And then a Russian Doctor Who actually was sent visiting temporarily.

He had his tint from Moscow.

So a sophisticated capital doctor from a capital of Russia hospital started operating on him, not immediately.

They waited for about, I think, 32 hours first, interrogated him, tortured him with electric shocks.

Another medical personnel was present while he was tortured, and then the doctor had to operate to keep his life.

He did a good job, the surgery was perfect, but when the guy woke up, he saw that there is extra bandages on his stomach and this Russian doctor has burned with the medical tool.

Victory, glory to Russia on his stomach.

And I have these pictures and he showed it to us during the interview, he and the letter Z, you know, letter Z, which is now metaphorical in Russia for support of the military operation.

Why did he have to do that?

But he did the surgery well, he did his medical job well.

And then he did that on on helpless man who was under anaesthesia.

This is 1 very striking for me example of such brutality.

Almost like schizophrenic, you know, they do their medical job and or they measure the height and the weight of the people, but it doesn't matter.

They're tortured.

They silently watch or they participate.

Yes, I wanted to expose that and it is in my report now for the first time.

The second question about whether Russia's repression inside the country has escalated since Alaska.

I mean, from what I can see, there was from news that there was even worse drone and bombardment attacks to Ukraine since Alaska.

What I can see, of course, as anybody else is the one day ago the the Russian planes in Lithuanian space or Russian drones heading for Warsaw.

I mean, in terms of the repression inside the country against human rights defenders or journalists, it's already so high.

It's already so high and so brutal that I don't think in several weeks it has dramatically increased.

[Other language spoken]

Everyday we receive information about another journalist or writer or activist or just a common citizen who is commenting on Butcher or commenting on war crimes by Russia and Ukraine on social media who are being for being prosecuted.

But also now they have invented a new tool.

And this is what my second thematic reporting at the General Assembly is about.

It will be a zoom in.

It also contained it in this report, but I'll be zooming in for the General Assembly on the issue of the abuse of national security legislation, treason, espionage, confidential cooperation and public safety legislation like terrorism, counterterrorism, counter extremism legislation.

All of these laws that exist in many countries of the world and have to actually go after real terrorists and extremists and treason, espionage, spies.

They're instrumentalised to silence dissent and particularly anti war expression in Russia.

So actually it's a conveyor belt.

You see LGBT people sentenced for being extremists, indigenous organisations, national minority.

The Supreme Court of Russia pronounced one after another the LGBT movement, whatever that is, as extremists and the so-called separatist movement with its 172 affiliates, 1st as extremists.

And then they put them in the list once 172 organisations on the list of terrorists, which carries all the prosecution of heavy sentences for terrorism up to 2025 years or life imprisonment.

So, you know, I don't think in several weeks I could measure the pulse of after Alaska, something dramatically changed.

I think it dramatically changes every day.

I mean, it's really, I'm shocked because I thought, well, now they demolish, they dismantle the civil society, torture as usual, impunity as usual.

Where else could you go from here?

Clearly they haven't reached the rock bottom yet in the repression at home and the imaginative tools on the occupied territories and during the war against Ukraine, against civilians and, you know, PO WS.

Thank you, special rapporteur.

Is there another question in the room?

Otherwise, we'll move to those online.

Thank you, Laurent.

Yeah, thank you for the press conference, Laurence, your Swiss news agency.

I'd like to jump on what you said about the recent dozens of deportation from Russian opponents and that and human rights defenders from the US.

Have you observed an increasing trend of these deportations since the arrival of Donald Trump at the White House?

Because it seems that it was already the practise under the Biden administration so as it speed up since the arrival of Donald Trump.

And do you have any indications of other countries that might have had the same behaviour against the the Russian human rights defenders and opponents?

[Other language spoken]

You mean the deportations, right?

That's your question.

Yes, the trend of deportations in your from third countries of Russian opponents to Russia, Yes, I haven't been, you know, intimately investigating the return, the deportation of the 50 Russian asylum seekers.

Among them, I was told by human rights advocates that there were men who refused to fight against Ukraine to be mobilised in the army and they they were among these group of 50 that were deported.

I know because I was in United States and I met with Russian indigenous activists as well.

I met with human rights, Russian human rights defenders that now have formed their organisations in exile and they're working there.

But on defending somehow their lawyers, defending the as much as possible in courts, the Russian exiled activists in order to prevent deportations.

But, you know, United States is a difficult country in that respect because there is not even procedure like we have in Europe with the European Court for Human Rights, which now does not apply to Russia, to the Russian victims in Russia, because Russia is no longer member of the European Council of Europe and withdrew from the European Convention.

And actually we drew recently from the European Convention not only on human rights, but on Torch, on prevention of torture, as you know.

But the court, the European Court, of course, could be called upon to prevent deportations from European countries, but not in the context of the United States.

There is no really hearing where or any recourse.

Where you can, you can write in court and try to prevent a deport, to stop a deportation.

So I know of of an indigenous Dr and I won't tell at the moment which region of Russia this indigenous Dr woman escaped and actually to United States with her husband in order to avoid being mobilised as a medical doctor.

They are under obligation if called up to be mobilised in any war effort.

One of those professions.

So in order to not fight in Ukraine and not fight but be a medical doctor mobilised to be in the war against Ukraine, She left and went to United States, asked for political asylum.

Unfortunately they entered through Mexico, which then spent about six months in indefinite what they thought detention and then from there she was deported back with her husband to Russia.

She actually, from what I know, she has been now by the authorities of Russia, banned to leave Russia as a punishment for the next 6 months.

And of course she lives in fear and the next thing is she might be mobilised and sent to Ukraine.

This is only one example.

There are other countries.

It's not a United States, obviously there are other countries, countries that are, you know, threatening to return, especially men who have been mobilised, who have refused mobilisation, deserters from the Russian army.

It has been happening in, in several countries, actually European countries also, we have countries in the South Caucasus where Russians, because it's easier, they didn't need visas.

They actually found refuge and they were activists.

I mean in one European country actually I had to, I, I wrote a letter testifying in one case it was a man and a wife and they were activists and one of, and bloggers and they had five children and this European country was threatening deportation.

And I wrote a letter trying to describe what awaits them.

Everything that I just described, imprisonment, criminal charges and what would happen with the children.

Because usually the children of activists who are imprisoned are either left with elderly parents, relatives or they are institutionalised in social care institutions.

For example, there is the case of two theatre women, Berkovich and Petri Chuk who was who were sentenced in Russia.

One of them had her two children, small children.

They were sentenced to silence them for Berkovich writing a series of anti war poems and they're now in detention and the the children of one of them are left with a very elderly and not well, health wise parents of of Evgenia Berkovich.

But that's what happens usually.

So we don't even know now what's happened in this European country.

They wrote back to the lawyer of the family saying, oh, we received this letter from the special rapporteur, but we think it's fake.

How did you we think you produced a fake letter?

Can you even imagine?

They didn't approach my office, they didn't approach my team or the OHCHR to me to ask.

I'm very approachable special rapporteur by the way.

They could have approached me to ask whether this is a letter signed by me.

It was on special procedures heading and with my signature.

I think it was a euphemism to ignore the warning by me about what this activists will be facing if deported.

They're not deported yet.

I haven't heard any, any frightening news, but this is one of the things in my recommendations in this report, in meetings with European Union and other like minded states, any states really from the international community, I'm always approaching all regional groups.

While in Geneva.

I stay, I will be staying next week to be meeting member states as well, to actually ask them and advocate with them to protect the Russian defenders, not to return them and not to have these blanket policies.

For example, now I saw some plans in the new sanctions by the European Union, their ideas of not giving travel visas to any Russian, to Russian citizens.

Well, how would we have Russian human rights defenders coming to us?

By the way, you will see some of them we managed to invite and bring with us.

More than 20 leading human rights defenders here in Geneva to be in the room and hear when their country spoken about and their human rights.

They're here with us as well, in addition to the side event participants.

They came from inside Russia and from outside Russia, but they need visas to come and they need visas so their voices are heard by us, by the international community.

So this blanket, I would even call them Russophobic policies, to be honest.

What is that?

[Other language spoken]

I understand if there are policies of the tortures, the perpetrators of, of crimes and human rights violations being put on sanctions or tourist visas for, you know, just shopping trips.

But there should be an exception for the dissidents, the human rights defenders and under no circumstances be returning Russian asylum seekers back to Russia in violation of the non rifle more principle.

[Other language spoken]

Hey there.

Thank you very much for this briefing.

It's Olivia and Podbar from Reuters here.

You were speaking there about punitive psychiatry returning as a as a tool against anti war voices.

I was just wondering if you could just give a bit of explanation about what these coercive forms of psychiatry are and what they entail.

And secondly, you mentioned there that some people had been punished for engaging with UN human rights mechanisms, and I was just wondering if you could kindly give some more details on that.

Thank you very much.

[Other language spoken]

I will actually start with your second question now.

This is page 27 of my report if you have it in front of you.

I have been observing these in all my reports already.

3rd to the Human Rights Council Reprisals.

The use of reprisals and intimidation by the Russian government against Russian human rights defenders for collaborating or participating.

Collaborating with human rights mechanisms or participating in UN meetings or petitioning UN human rights mechanisms.

So here one of the ways of doing that and I have documented it in my previous report last year as well, is 1st.

I mean, the way it works is the Russian government is trying to prevent Russian human rights organisations having echo Sox status accreditation.

They're trying to strip them from this echo Sox status.

And the way it works, these NGOs are first by closed down by a decision of accord in Russia.

They are or they are branded as foreign agent organisation.

And then the authorities are writing to the UN Accreditation Committee granting the ECOSOC status to say this organisation does not have a legal entity in Russia.

So therefore they cannot have ECOSOC status and representation of the UN.

So this has happened repeatedly with Russian NGOs and as it happened, these organisations and you know, it's a very difficult process.

[Other language spoken]

And the Russian authorities have been blocking in this accreditation, the receipt, even the granting of such accreditation by Echo Sock for many organisations along with other governments for their civil, civil societies.

But I could speak about the Russians.

And so as it happened, these organisations are some of them indigenous peoples organisations who got ECOSOC status or they are regional, from, from the regions of Russia, human rights organisations, others are not even receiving, Others are waiting.

Russian NGOs, I know the the Moscow Helsinki Group, for example, has been waiting already for several years along with others.

So this is one of the ways.

Then, for example, again, an indigenous organisation, Botani Foundation, which is now working in exile, it's leader, Pavel Tsulin Ziga, who was also a former colleague in the Indigenous.

How is it called?

[Other language spoken]

The indigenous, the special.

No, no, no, not the special rapporteur.

[Other language spoken]

It's yes, it's a group of experts.

[Other language spoken]

They are a special procedure, the permanent forms in New York.

It's actually exists anyway they you can easily check that he was a member of these indigenous issues.

I think it's like working group or expert group EMREP, right, experts mechanism on indigenous persons issues, people's issues.

But Pablo Zulinziga is the head of Botani Foundation, for example, in he's based in the US and at their invitation, I went to support them during the Indigenous Forum, which the UN is staging is, is organising every year with indigenous leaders from around the world.

The the Russian indigenous opposition and the war human rights leaders were taking very active part speaking at this forum in New York.

And as a result, his organisation has been branded undesirable by the Russian authorities immediately after that.

And which of course, they're trying in a reprisal to, in the qualification of branding the organisation and desirable, the Russian authorities wrote for spreading lies and propaganda at UN forums.

So it's directly related.

There are other ways, you know, for example, an organisation, it's in my report, which is dealing with torture in Siberia, in Yerkutsk.

Their leader has been questioned by the FSB, by the security services, then detained for a day, then released.

But interestingly, testimonies of torture victims have been confiscated by the authorities against his will.

And he's one of the recipients of the UN Torture Fund, the voluntary fund for support of the victims of torture.

This is how he exists on on small grants which are granted by the UN to this organisation to work in prisons in Siberia, work with torture victims.

So this in a way and they wanted they also confiscated his reports which are internal written to the UN voluntary fund for the torture for victims of torture.

So yes, there are a variety of ways of doing it.

The reprisals.

I have spoken also to the assistant Secretary General who is also the head of the OFCHR office in New York.

She's the UN official in charge of taking up the issue.

You know, the secretary general publishes a report on reprisals and intimidation against for for cooperation with the UN every year.

We are in touch.

My team is in touch.

I'm in touch also with them.

So we could we could all know and monitor the level at which the Russian civil society is under reprisals for communication with us.

The second there was a second question, I believe.

Yes, about about punitive psychiatry.

What was the question?

Yes, it's returning steadily and actually it's returning since the full scale invasion.

By returning you know it's the old Soviet tool of getting dissidents, in this case anti war activists.

Also journalists being how it works, they're detained.

I mean, for example, very striking example is of one indigenous shaman.

[Other language spoken]

He's indigenous religious figure who actually started walking to Moscow before, before the war started against Ukraine.

And he claimed that he has visions.

He's from Yakutia, the Republic of Yakuti in Siberia.

And he wanted to walk to Kremlin, to the Red Square and exercise the Kremlin and the president of Russia because something terrible is going to happen.

Of course, he had a lot of following on the way, walking that was his way in various cities.

And of course, he was detained and then put in forced psychiatric treatment.

By the way, the terrible thing that happened shortly after was the war against Ukraine and the full scale invasion.

I don't know, I haven't met the shaman, but once he's released one day, I would very much want to talk to him about his visions for the future.

He was put under a strict psychiatric, it's like prison like conditions in a psychiatric hospital, mandatory decided by a court decision.

And then this could be an indefinite psychiatric detention because the doctors are testifying.

But the court could decide that he could be kept indefinitely.

And this is a case he's still in psychiatric treatment.

I think the little victory of of his lawyers was that they managed and also the publicity.

I include the shaman in every report.

I hope the UN editors haven't cut him from this one because I want him to be really to stay with us and this publicity to be about him.

The I think the little victory this year was that he was moved from the strict psychiatric detention to a less strict, but he still continues to be banned.

And there are many others.

Maria Ponomarenko, A journalist only writing because she wrote about the war against Ukraine.

She's in detention.

She's been imprisoned.

She was sent in a faraway colony in the Far East of Russia.

And she tried to commit suicide actually in one week because she's put in torturous conditions of detention in punishment cells.

But before that, she's been forced into psychiatric treatment for her opposition against the war, even from prison.

So I had the numbers, I think in the beginning, in 22, there were, I believe, between 50 and 80, and they were activists.

They were sent into mandatory psychiatric treatment.

Some were released after that.

[Other language spoken]

It's also used against environmental activists, by the way, in Russia, because the environmental activists are also facing the private businesses.

And there is nothing like a private business in Russia from the oil companies.

These are companies very connected to the high level of power, but they have been also brutalised both by private actors and by the police and forced into psychiatric examinations or detention.

I hope I answered your question.

[Other language spoken]

We have another hand up online from Jamie.

Hi, thank you very much.

Madame Kazarova, this is Jamie from Associated Press.

I just wanted to get you to elaborate if you could, just more broadly, you said the repression is escalating at the beginning.

Could you just talk to us a little bit more about specifically in a nutshell what you mean by that?

And then the second question is about following up on laurels question earlier about the 50 people that were deported to Russia from the United States.

Could you, am I clear in understanding that you did not investigate that yourself and that in fact, you're basing that on what other human rights groups have told you?

And I'd really like to know, if possible, whether or not that has increased as he asked during the Trump administration as opposed to the Biden administration.

[Other language spoken]

What I mean under the repression escalating is the tools and the strategy of repression, because it's not by chance this is a toolbox.

Last year I presented my first thematic report to the General Assembly in New York, and it was on torture in Russia as a tool of repression inside the country and aggression abroad.

Now I'm saying the the repression is escalating in Russia, has escalated during the period under review of the past one year because new tools have been employed, you know, on a regular basis.

So we're seeing here that as I said, that the laws on national security such as treason, espionage, confidential cooperation with the foreign state and the laws on public safety, the counterterrorism counter extremism legislation has been now massively used against dissidents, anti war activists or human rights defenders or simply anybody who has expressed any disagreement with the war against Ukraine.

These charges are used massively.

And this is the new form of repression, not new form, sorry.

It's a, it's a new tool in the toolbox of repression as part of the strategy of the government.

So we also see escalation because they're perfecting old laws like the foreign agent law or undesirable organisations.

More and more restrictions are put on organisations and individuals that are designated for an agent.

For example, now the newest is that they are reaching out towards those who are in exile.

So we we see a lot of, you know, confiscation of facets or now trials in absentia.

I gave an example with Burisa Kunin, the prominent Russian writer who has been in exile since 2014.

So as a foreign agent.

But also they are adding justifying terrorism.

As I said, the national security legislation and public safety justifying terrorism is very often employed as a tool to silence dissent and anti war sentiment.

This is now becoming also the repression is getting pretty much on a massive scale because we have any LGBT person or somebody publisher with of LGBT related books or as I mentioned, Susan Zontak, right, and her books are now banned in Russia.

They, you know, anybody could be actually under criminal investigation and criminal charges for being extremists.

Same with the national minorities, indigenous organisations as well.

And at the same time, anybody supporting Navalny, even people who went to the funeral or journalists who covered it or journalists who have been in touch with Navalny's organisation, anybody to to have to to have anything to do with Navalny's foundations or name on or work is charged with being an extremist.

These are registers where you see names of organisations and people.

So the crackdown is and the repression is escalating because it's becoming really reaching out and becoming massive, and also because the masterminds of this repression are employing new elaborate tools against a total impunity for directions.

Torture is also part of this equation as a tool.

Did you have another question?

Yeah, about the 50.

No, I haven't managed to be honest.

I was finishing my 2 reports.

This happened like 2 weeks ago or three weeks ago.

The deportation of the 50I based.

I have my information from Russian human rights defenders, but no, I haven't personally investigated with my team this this case.

I will, after I finish here with presenting my report to the Council when I have a bit of time.

And see what is the fate of these people in Russia?

Where are they?

My information is that they were detained, the majority of them including subjected to treatment and torture during interrogation by the FSB, by the Security Service, which was waiting for them at the airport.

[Other language spoken]

Jamie, do you have another question or is it a follow up?

[Other language spoken]

I just want to make sure, is it your sense from the group that rights groups that you're talking to that these deportations have happened this year since the Trump administration has been in power, or did it actually happen underneath the Biden administration as well?

I haven't followed up the US deportations.

That's not my mandate, you know, to be following intimately what's happening in each member state of the United Nations that are deporting Russian human rights defenders or anti war activists or asylum seekers.

But I shared with you what I know at the moment.

And yes, I would, you know, from my information, when I was visiting United States, I was told that the indefinite migration, immigration detention started before the current administration in the US.

It started with the old government of the United States that there is an indefinite detention and many Russian activists and anti war activists and asylum seekers, human rights defenders who out of the dream of going to United States as the beacon of democracy as they tell me they went there to seek refuge.

And many of them are in in this indefinite immigration detention.

I saw indigenous activists as I said, they cried.

I remember crying and telling me they even after six months or more spending at the border with Mexico in this indefinite detention, they felt so lucky and so guilty because they were suddenly released without any explanation.

But they're still awaiting asylum, you know, procedures.

They still don't have their status.

They were just released.

So they're still in in the country and trying to get a status without, of course, being deported.

[Other language spoken]

So I'm also interested in the punitive psychiatry that you have mentioned and you're already answering a question, but I would like to know more details about these psychological treatments.

Would they include the use of chemicals, isolation?

[Other language spoken]

Do you think they they may be considered a torture?

And also you, you said they are similar to the ones in the Soviet Union.

There is no change in in in the last decades.

They are using exactly what what it was used with the KGB, for example.

[Other language spoken]

Yes, it's page 8084, I'm told by by my colleague a paragraph 84.

Sorry, we don't have such length.

Actually our reports were cut this year by 10% because of the financial crisis.

So you see a telegraphic style reporting on a huge country like Russia with a lot of human rights issues.

So the on one side is the psychiatric, the forced psychiatric treatment and psychiatric detention, which is used against anti war voices, activists.

I told you the story about the shaman Gab.

What was his name?

[Other language spoken]

But in addition to the psychiatric for psychiatric treatment, which could turn into indefinite psychiatric treatment, as I explained, it's a it's a perpetual mobility.

You know, people stay and then they keep them there.

There is also the punishment cells like Shizo or Peccate.

These are their abbreviations.

[Other language spoken]

These are punishment cells in essence their solitary confinement, where political prisoners, I mentioned Navalny, could spend All in all 396 days in this solitary confinement.

[Other language spoken]

The conditions there are dreadful.

I have already long ago equated them to torture renewal treatment because they are in essence torture to the detainees they don't have.

Of course it's a solitary confinement, but then the the core condition of detention there are pretty destroying the health and the well-being of of the detainees.

Yes, I mean, look, these are various tools of the same of same strategy of repression.

I mean they're crushing the spirit of these political prisoners in detention.

They I mean I saw with Navalny or with others for you know, not being not making their bed in time in the several minutes or seconds provided you can receive a punishment cell conditions for two weeks.

I mean, the very lawless way of even granting or deciding without cheques and balances on this punishment within the prison colonies.

You remember Vladimir Karamurzak was released last year because of the miraculous prisoner swap.

He was in prison for 25 years imprisonment for five articles against the war against Ukraine.

And he's held deteriorated to such an extent that his legs were completely, you know, getting paralysed in detention.

And nevertheless, he was put in prison in punishment cells and also not all of them not really awarded adequate medical care.

They should be seen by specialist civilian doctors.

This is not allowed by the prison authorities.

Yeah, I hope I answered your question.

We need to run because we have an event.

Our side of event is starting at 1:00.

Unless there is a very burning question.

I'm also available after the side event and after my, my interactive dialogue is put at 3:00.

So I will run from room 11 to to the interactive dialogue.

But I will be at the UN at 4:30 as well.

Or if you catch me in in the middle of running between the side event and the podium.

But if there are no burning questions at the moment, I really thank you so much.

And it's so important to to speak about this through you, through the media of the world, because the Russian media, as a result of the government, is now silenced.

And somehow to the Russian people, we need to bring the message that they're not alone, that this repression is known and their suffering is known and their courage is known by us and we're in solidarity and that we will continue.

I will continue through my mandate to demand from the Russian authorities to rescind all these repressive laws and release the political prisoners and stop the repression at home and release the Ukrainian civilian detainees, bring the torturers to justice.

So I regret that the Russian authorities yet again are not engaging with my mandate.

And recently, on 9th of September, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs published a statement, you can see there is an English version as well, stating that my mandate will be yet again voted this at at the Human Rights Council.

But they absolutely do not support it, do not recognise it, and no communication with me and the Russian mandate is possible, which is very unfortunate and regrettable.

I welcome and I still continue to wait for us to engage with the Russian authorities in a meaningful and constructive dialogue.

This is the only way forward for their people and for the future of their people and for the justice for the victims of violations in their own country.

[Other language spoken]

Very quickly.

[Other language spoken]

Again, also, I think it's going to be a quick one.

Last week, Navanese widow said that the he died in detention because he was poisoned there.

Do you have any indication on that?

[Other language spoken]

I pretty much you know, it's very likely is that way because although the restaurant authorities didn't give the family the the body of Navalny even to the mother for a long time, I believe there was a way of the Julia Navalny his family to take some biological material.

I think I I don't know exactly what probably some of his hair or nails.

[Other language spoken]

However, I I knew that this biological material was given for in for analysis in outside Russia and other countries.

Now she's claiming that this is this examinations are pointing to the fact that Navalny was has been had been poisoned in detention.

It's very possible.

It's possible that Navalny was tortured to death.

It's possible that Navalny's health deteriorated because of the punishment cells, the prolonged brutalities against him.

As I said from the very beginning, after his death, no matter how Navalny died in detention, the responsibilities on the Russian government, in the Russian authorities and the fact that they did not allow independent investigation into the circumstances of Navalny's death.

The fact that they, the prison authorities somehow on that day did not even have the special video cameras that each prison guard is supposed to have.

[Other language spoken]

Points to the fact that I pretty much could imagine it's likely that he was poisoned in detention.

I haven't looked into this.

I haven't looked into what which countries investigated and and what are the findings of the experts.

I'm not a forensic expert and I haven't been anywhere near Navalny, but if biological material was given and this is found out to be true, it's very likely he was killed one way or another by the impunity of the Russian authorities against political prisoners, by the torturous conditions and by the pressure and by the arbitrary detention.

An innocent man was imprisoned for his political opposition to the government, like many others in Russia at the moment.

[Other language spoken]

We will now close this press conference.

Thank you for joining us today.

HRC Press conference: Human rights in the Russian Federation - 22 September 2025