Mysterious "heart-attacks" and "suicides" keep happing after brutal arrests in Russia.

[DetlefK]

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/03/musicians-being-torture-by-police-is-the-new-reality-in-russia/

Sergei Pestov, 57, was holding a jam-session in his garage when suddenly police burst in, without a warrant, and started beating him up. They arrested him.

According to the official police-report:
- Police found small quantities of marijuana and amphetamines in his garage, enough to send him to jail for 10 years.
- In the police-station, Pestov confessed to dealing drugs. (Which is a major crime in Russia.)
- Instead of arresting this confessed drug-dealer, by 4 am the cops released him but he had to promise to return by 10 am.
- Pestov contacted nobody from 4 am to 10 am.
- As he had promised, Pestov returned by 10 am to the police-station.
- Pestov complained that he felt unwell and died on the way to the hospital.
- The official medical report states that Pestov had at least 10 bruises on his body from being hit with blunt objects. And that he died from a heart-attack.

Russia’s Investigative Committee, an FBI-style law enforcement agency that answers only to President Vladimir Putin, calls allegations that police killed Pestov “unfounded” and refuses to bring criminal charges against the arresting officers.




No one knows how many people die every year in Russian police custody—that is, before reaching trial or often before even being charged—because the authorities do not publish statistics.

...

Basing her research on Interior Ministry reports and news items, Berezina recorded 197 confirmed deaths in police custody for 2015. However, she says police cover-ups mean this is only a fraction of the number of deaths. It is an opinion shared by Pavel Chikov, a human rights lawyer who has been dealing with police torture cases since 2002. “Violence is the norm among Russian police,” he says. “But we only see the tip of the iceberg.” The Interior Ministry did not respond to a request for comment by Newsweek.

Of the deaths listed by Berezina, 104 resulted from what authorities vaguely call “a sudden deterioration in health conditions.” There were also 62 reported suicides. “Police can beat a person to death and then just hang the body up and make it look like he or she committed suicide,” says Sergei Babinets, another lawyer with the Committee for Prevention of Torture, in an interview at the organization’s Moscow office. “This will remain the official cause of death, unless there are relatives who are prepared to challenge the authorities when they are handed a battered body.” Babinets blames a lack of specialized training, low recruitment standards and a pressure to meet monthly “arrest quotas” for a culture of violence among Russia’s police force.

[Brickbat]

1. Here's the original article, written much better, from Newsweek.

http://www.newsweek.com/2016/04/08/russia-police-custody-torture-abuse-441489.html

[davidn3600]

2. America ain't much better....

[Blue_Tires]

4. Do you really want to compare the numbers

of how many dissidents have vanished in Russia compared to here?

Nevermind the fact that black folks would arguably get worse treatment in Russia, assuming there was a sizeable population...

[Blue_Tires]

3. Someone asked Snowden what he thought of this

but he's too busy bitching and moaning on Twitter about the FBI cracking a terrorist's iPhone....