The Russian newspaper Kommersant reports that the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) is carrying out an inquiry into the system used by the Russian authorities for the transportation of prisoners.

The Strasbourg based ECtHR yesterday sent a request to the Government of Russia for information regarding the technical condition of the police vans and trains used to transfer prisoners, as well as the departmental orders that regulate the transportation.

This is the first time the ECtHR has submitted such detailed inquiry, which is based on a complaint filed by the human rights organisation ‘Public Verdict’ vs Russia with regard to violations of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Article 3 of the ECHR deals with the issue of torture.

The ECtHR has previously received around 40 similar complaints. The press office of the Federal Penitentiary Service stated that they have not yet seen the request from the ECtHR, while claiming that they “carefully monitor the conditions of transportation of prisoners”.

Vladimir Osechkin, the head of the State Duma working group on the protection of human rights in detention, said that most prisoners continue to face “inhuman conditions during transportation”.

Read the full article in Russian here.