Tortures in Russia

25 November 1999. Nizhni Novgorod, Central Russia.

Olga Maslova, a girl, 19, was called to the police station as a witness.

Policemen started to interrogate Olga and requested false confessions. Olga refused. The policemen started to shout and threaten her. Then they punched her in the face. They fettered her hands with thumbcuffs, pummeled and raped her.

They put a gas mask over the girl's face. They shut off access to air and made her suffocate. The policemen connected wires to her earrings and ran electricity.

Finally Olga agreed to write her confession. But it was not the end.

Now the policemen just raped her.

One moment Olga was escorted to the lavatory where she tried to cut her wrist veins, but failed.

She was raped for 2 hours more. Then the policemen released her.

Olga was in the police station 9 hours in the total.

Four men responsible for the tortures - police officers and investigators of the prosecutor's office - are still free (January 2008).

(Source: Judgment of the European Court of Human Rights, Case of Maslova and Nalbandov v. Russia (app. no. 839/02), read the full text at the Court's official site or the copy of it here. )