Court Orders Russia to Pay Abused Prisoners

In a case brought by MacArthur grantee the Perm Human Rights Center, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the Russian government violated human rights conventions in its handling of the beating of seven prisoners. In 2001, the plaintiffs were beaten by officers of a special-purpose police unit while in a penal colony in the region of Perm. The Court found that the government violated the European Human Rights Convention by denying the prisoners access to an effective remedy in the Russian judicial system, among other violations. The Court ordered the Russian government to pay each applicant 10,000 EUR in damages. Perm regional human rights ombudsperson Tatiana Margolina said, "Thanks to this case becoming public, mass beatings of prisoners in Perm region have ceased."