Russia exploits tragedy to further dismantle the republic's autonomy

The decision of the Russian government to place the Tatar police force under the Russian Interior Ministry has been called a further curtailment of Tatar autonomy by the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP). "The torture scandal in Kazan is appalling. But putting the police in Tatarstan under the control of Moscow will do nothing to stop torture. On the contrary, torture is applied routinely at Russian police stations and detention centers. For the Russian government, the scandal in Kazan is just a welcome opportunity to further curtail rights in the republic on the Volga," criticized Sarah Reinke of the STP's CIS section on Friday in Berlin. 

In recent years, the Russian administration has deprived the republic of more and more powers that had been under the authority of Tatarstan since the 1990s. They dissolved the Tatar department at the University of Kazan and cut the number of Tatar schools for native speakers from 712 on 490 since 2006, to name just two examples. Regional taxes paid to Moscow have been increasing as well. That the Tatar Ministry of the Interior will now be answerable to Moscow is another grievous blow to Tatar autonomy.

The catalyst for this change was the case of a man who was raped with a bottle at the Dalny police station to extort a confession from him. He died some days later of a ruptured colon. Soon afterward, numerous similar cases of abuse and torture at this and other police stations in Kazan became known.

Torture is applied regularly in Russia at police stations and in detention centers to force people to sign confessions. Just three days ago, on March 20, 2012 the human rights organization "Memorial" brought attention to a case of torture in Khimki, near Moscow. A student, born in 1988, was hung from a wall and beaten and kicked for at least four hours. He lost consciousness repeatedly. He was also threatened with rape; he was told pictures of the act would be taken and shown around the prison. The seven torturers are said to have been drunk or under the influence of drugs. One of the perpetrators repeated the entire time: "We'll teach you to love Russians!" The student originally came from the republic of Dagestan in the North Caucasus. An exceptionally large number of people from North Caucasus have been subjected to imprisonment and torture.