[JURIST] The UN Committee against Torture (CAT) [official website] urged Russia Friday to investigate and prosecute [press release] what it called the "widespread use of torture" in Chechnya [BBC profile; JURIST news archive]. The human rights body cited "reliable reports" of the existence of secret detention facilities where "detainees faced torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment." CAT also expressed its concern that "numerous, ongoing and consistent allegations that abductions and enforced disappearances in the Chechen Republic were inflicted by or at the instigation of public officials."

The Committee against Torture (CAT) monitors implementation of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment [text, in PDF] by states party to the 1984 convention. Earlier this month Human Rights Watch issued a report claiming that torture has become widespread in Chechnya [HRW report] with more than 100 known cases in both official and secret detention centers. Reuters has more.