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An investigation by The Observer has established that boys as young as 16 are being tortured with electric shocks, asphyxiation and heavy beating in order to extract confessions. Poorly paid and ill-disciplined police, under pressure from Ministers to keep crime clear-up rates high, are resorting to any means to get confessions.

A poll of 32,000 people from across Russia published last week showed a quarter considered their rights had been violated by the police or courts over the past year.

Last month, Amnesty International released a report on 'rough justice' in Russia in which it cited a study by Krasnoyarsk University in central Siberia: 30 per cent of convicts said they had been physically or psychologically tortured into giving a confession.

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