Voice the stories of torture survivors. The Committee Against Torture has launched an online sound installation

Voice the stories of torture survivors. The Committee Against Torture has launched an online sound installation

▶️ What is this project?

“Voices of Torture” is an audio project by the Committee Against Torture charitable foundation. In it, anyone can voice a quote from the account of a person who survived torture. This can be done through a special Telegram bot.

All audio messages are joined into a single sound track on the project’s website. Mika Golubovsky, Linor Goralik, Alla Gutnikova, Olga Kravtsova, and Maksim Sukhanov have already taken part in the recording.

▶️ Why was it created?

The project authors’ idea is to draw attention to the issue of torture. Despite the high risk of cruel treatment, this problem remains invisible in Russia.

▶️ What is the situation with torture in Russia?

Places of detention are closed to independent observers, law enforcement officers often conceal evidence of violence, and survivors themselves are afraid to file complaints.

Because torture is not treated in the Criminal Code as a separate crime, but only as an aggravating factor in abuse of official powers, there are simply no official statistics on torture convictions. This creates the illusion that torture does not exist in Russia either.

▶️ Whose voices are heard in the project, and how can you take part?

The “Voices of Torture” project brings together quotes from people describing the violence they endured. The Committee Against Torture’s archive contains hundreds of such testimonies. This is the clearest proof that torture really does exist in Russia, and that these are not isolated cases but a systemic problem.

Taking part in the project is simple. To help voice the testimonies together and support survivors, all you need to do is open the Telegram bot, where you will receive a quote from a person who survived torture. Then you will need to record a voice message reading the phrase aloud. After that, your voice will be added to the shared sound track on the website.

You can learn more about the project on its website.

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