MOSCOW, MARCH 30 (RIA NOVOSTI) - Russian inmates do not suffer from any abuses on the part of prison officials, the federal Ministry of Justice assures.
There are no mass tortures or killings in Russian jails and penitentiaries, Justice Minister Yuri Kalinin stated at a session of the ministry's Public Council for the Penal System. His statement was a response to recent reports about alleged police brutality vis-a-vis inmates in Russia. "From which sources such information is coming is unclear, all the more so since reports about mistreatment of prisoners often concern [the detention of former Yukos CEO] Mikhail Khodorkovsky," Kalinin said. He reaffirmed that the conditions in which Khodorkovsky is being kept do meet all domestic and world standards. Disputing this will be tantamount to provocation, he pointed out.
