The Council of Europe on Thursday accused Russian authorities of administering electric shocks, asphyxiation and other tortures on prisoners in an effort to suppress an Islamist insurgency in the North Caucasus.The report was released after Russia for the first time allowed the publication of findings gathered by the council's committee on torture on a 2011 trip to Chechnya, Dagestan and North Ossetia.
The report by the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) gives weight to human rights groups' assertions that regional governments turn a blind eye to abuses in the name of cracking down on the