Tatyana Potyayeva, the City of Moscow Ombudsperson, has reported that new police vans will be equipped with toilets and air conditioning, according to Interfax.
“We have discussed the matter for a long time, our head of transportation department visited a pre-trial detention centre recently. I hope that a new series of police vans will be manufactured in 2022, each having a toilet and air conditioning,” she said. Potyayeva also promised to “keep working towards supporting the detainees’ rights”.
The Russian Ministry of Justice discussed the matter with the Council of Europe in March 2021 and promised to make police vans more spacious, as well as to equip them with toilets and modern ventilation systems for trips of over 200 km.
In 2019, the European Court of Human Rights declared the conditions under which prisoners and detainees are transported in Russia ‘inhumane’. This includes transporting people in 1.6 m high police vans with no toilet, light, heating or food.
