Composition of Public Council under FSIN changed after discussion of torture of Caucasian natives

Journalist Eva Merkachyova and human rights defender Anna Karetnikova were excluded from the Public Council under the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service (known as FSIN). While being members of the Council, they defended the rights of prisoners, and at a meeting of the Human Rights Council with Vladimir Putin, Eva Merkachyova highlighted the problem of torture of natives of the Caucasus.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on November 9, the human rights project "Gulagu.net" posted video evidence of violence and torture practiced against residents of Chechnya, Dagestan, Georgia and Azerbaijan at the above Saratov prison hospital.

Eva Merkachyova and Anna Karetnikova were not included in the new composition of the Public Council under the Federal Penitentiary Service, posted on December 21 on the FSIN website. Members of the Public Council are elected for a five-year term.

According to Eva Merkachyova, she and Anna Karetnikova were not included in the new composition of the Public Council by the decision of the Public Chamber. The journalist noted that the prestige of the FSIN fell against the background of information about torture, while the Council continues to include such members as the former chief of the FSIN Department for Krasnoyarsk.

According to human rights defender Marina Litvinovich, the exclusion from the Council of both Eva Merkachyova and Anna Karetnikova is a significant event. “Both are doing incredibly much to improve the FSIN system. And the main thing is that they know the system well from the inside. Now they are not there,” Marina Litvinovich wrote on her Facebook page on December 21.

A similar opinion was also expressed by human rights defender Aleksei Fedyarov. “The new composition of the Public Council under the Federal Penitentiary Service includes the members who are very convenient for the FSIN. Not a single member who would openly express his or her own opinion. Now it is officially a simulacrum. This is the answer to complaints about torture. An important detail for me personally is that Anna Karetnikova and Eva Merkachyova have been removed from the composition of the Public Council. These two women are brave, smart, and their actions are effective. I think that is why they are not members of the Council now,” Aleksei Fedyarov wrote on his Facebook page on December 21.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on December 22, 2021 at 02:16 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.