Alice Edwards, who is officially known as the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, said she was “distressed by the deteriorating state of Mr. Navalny’s health and the apparent lack of satisfactory diagnosis and medical treatment”.

‘A form of torture’

In a statement also backed by six of her fellow Human Rights Council-appointed experts, she said that the alleged placement of the Russian politician, lawyer and anti-corruption campaigner in isolation on 11 separate occasions, amounting to 114 days in solitary confinement over seven months, “appears disproportionate” and would amount to a form of torture, if confirmed.

“Mr. Navalny is reportedly suffering from serious ill-health, including chronic spinal disease and problems related to neurological damage,” Ms. Edwards said.

The jailed leader returned to Russia in 2021 from receiving extensive medical treatment in Germany, after what laboratory tests indicated had been an attempt to poison him with a nerve agent, while in Siberia in August 2020.

He was immediately arrested after resolving to fly home to Russia, from Germany.

Jailed

The 46-year-old is serving concurrent sentences of 11.5 years for fraud and contempt of court – on charges which he said were trumped up to remove him from public life.

Russia has denied all previous allegations that any prison employees have mistreated Mr. Navalny, saying that he has been given access to medical treatment when needed.

Immediate care needed

“He must immediately and continuously be provided with adequate care, including comprehensive medical check-ups, treatment and monitoring of his health situation in a civil hospital.”

 She also raised the cases of three of his political supporters, who are also being held in Russian jails – Liliya Chanysheva, Vadim Ostanin and Daniel Kholodny.

The Special Rapporteur said their cases should be “promptly, thoroughly and impartially investigated.

Release supporters ‘without delay’

“If it is found that these individuals are being arbitrarily deprived of their liberty, they should be released without delay.

She said in the case of Mr. Ostanin, whose condition is reportedly deteriorating, Russia “should as a matter of urgency provide adequate medical care in a civil hospital”.

Liliya Chanysheva is the previous head of Mr. Navalny’s office in the city of Ufa. She was arrested on charges of managing a “structural subdivision” of an extremist group in November 2021, said the UN rights office, OHCHR.

Mr. Ostanin, ran the Navalny office in the city of Byisk, and was arrested on similar charges in March 2022.

Mr. Kholodny, an employee of Mr. Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, was arrested at the same time on charges of belonging to an extremist group, and for allegedly providing or collecting money to finance an extremist organisation, OHCHR said.

Concerns registered

The Special Rapporteur and other experts have been in direct contact with the Russian Government about these cases “and will continue to monitor them.”

Special Rapporteurs and other UN Human Rights Council-appointed rights experts, work on a voluntary and unpaid basis, are not UN staff, and work independently from any government or organisation.

In the month of April alone, more than 600 people were killed in violence in the country’s capital, according to information gathered by the UN Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH). This follows the killing of at least 846 people in the first three months of 2023.

BINUH said that overall, the number of victims of killings, injuries and kidnappings increased by 28 per cent in the first quarter of the year, with a total of 1,634 cases reported.

Rise in vigilantism

Mob killings and lynchings of alleged gang members are also on the rise, as “vigilantes take the law into their own hands”, the UN human rights office (OHCHR) said. At least 164 such murders were documented in April.

The latest report from OHCHR and BINUH points to the emergence of vigilante groups, “following calls by some political figures and journalists for citizens to form self-defence organizations to fight gang violence”.

Commenting on the findings, the UN rights chief stressed that vigilantism will only “fuel the spiral of violence”.

Extreme violence

The report notes that gangs use snipers on rooftops to “indiscriminately shoot people carrying out their daily activities”. In some instances, gang members burst into neighbourhoods on a killing spree, “burned people alive in public transportation vehicles” and executed “everyone perceived to be opposed to the gang”.

The report also documents the use of sexual violence, including collective rape, “to terrorize and inflict pain” on populations under the control of rival gangs.

According to a local human rights organization quoted in the report, at least 652 women and girls were “subjected to individual and collective rape in gang-controlled areas over the past year”.

Root causes of a ‘human rights emergency’

The UN rights chief underscored that poverty and the lack of basic services were among the root causes of the gangs’ stranglehold over the country.

Earlier this year, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) had warned that half the population of Haiti, or some 4.9 million people, were struggling to access food.

“The Government, with support from the international community, must do its utmost to comply with its obligation to provide people with regular and unimpeded access to clean water, food, health and shelter,” Mr. Türk said.

He said a “robust response” was needed to what he billed as a “human rights emergency”.

‘Coordinated international action’ required

Mr. Türk reiterated his call on the international community to “deploy a time-bound, specialized and human rights-compliant support force, with a comprehensive action plan to assist Haiti’s institutions”.

Last month, the country was on the agenda of the Human Rights Council, which adopted a resolution calling for the appointment of an independent rights expert on Haiti.

Sponsored by Haiti itself, the resolution called for “coordinated and targeted international action”.

In line with the resolution, the duties of the new independent expert on human rights in Haiti, William O’Neill, include focusing on the situation of children and of human trafficking and providing advice and technical assistance to the Haitian Government, national human rights institutions and civil society organizations to help promote and protect human rights.

Independent rights experts appointed by the United Nations rights chief in accordance with Human Rights Council resolutions are not UN staff nor are they paid for their work.