Overview
- - Documents cited by the Pervy Otdel rights group say a March 2022 presidential decision empowered officers to place people in pretrial jails without opening a criminal case or obtaining a court order.
- - The Investigative Committee rejected a complaint about one such detention by invoking the president’s decision and a “temporary instruction” that sets SIZO rules, and neither text is public.
- - The order authorizes military investigators, the FSB security service, the Interior Ministry, and the Federal Protective Service to send people labeled as opposing the “special military operation” to facilities run like pretrial detention centers.
- - The paperwork indicates the measure can apply to Russian citizens as well as Ukrainians, expanding a practice long reported in occupied areas and across Russian-held sites.
- - Rights advocates argue the practice violates Article 22 of Russia’s Constitution, and they warn detainees can be kept in isolation with little or no access to lawyers or family.