Russians Concerned With Lawlessness, Abuse of Power -Report

Vladimir Lukin. Source: politrussia.ruOn March 14th, Rossiiskaya Gazeta published the yearly report of Russia’s Human Rights Commissioner, Vladimir Lukin (russian text). According to Lukin, the report has already been presented to President Vladimir Putin, and the biggest complaints of Russian citizens in 2007 were against the abuse of power on the part of law enforcement agencies.

Lukin added that he had already met with the president, and he brought attention to a large row of problems. The most prominent included grave problems with Russia’s judicial system: biased and partial courts, official red tape, disregard of verdicts.

Furthermore, the report notes that Russians have more frequently complained against agents of the security services, and that nearly one in two complaints was against abuse of power and lawlessness. Violations were described in the process of maintaining the public peace, pretrial investigations, interrogation techniques, legal proceedings and sentencing, as well as the execution of sentences and imprisonment. At the same time, fewer complaints were noted about conditions in correctional facilities. Every thirtieth complaint dealt with violations of civil freedoms and human rights.

“By and large, lawlessness on the part of law enforcement agencies is what worries people greatly,” Lukin said.