The phone call to Putin () is a slang term used by some Russian police departments for torture method which consists of administering electric shocks to the person's earlobes, nose, and/or genitals. According to Amnesty International, torture with electric shocks by security forces and prison, jail, and penal colony guards is common in Russia.Amnesty International report Torture and ill-treatment Torture in Russia "This man-made Hell" - by Amnesty International, 3 April 1997 An example of a device used for this purpose is a TA-57 telephone.

This method was profiled in publications describing a case of Aleksei Mikheyev who was falsely accused in 2006 of murder while his alleged victim was alive and well. After surviving the alleged "phone call" torture, he jumped out of a third-floor window to escape his tormentors. The fall resulted in a spinal cord injury that rendered Mikheyev a paraplegic. Russia Report: February 6, 2006 by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty His case was taken to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France and became notable as "the first serious victory in a case of torture" brought to the Court against Russian government.Yulia Latynina "Phone Call to Putin: A new method that the cops love. In the war against your own people, all tactics are good." (Russian) Novaya Gazeta 9 August 2004Police Are at War With the Russian People by Yulia Latynina "In Nizhny Novgorod, Alexei Mikheyev gave a ride to a young woman he knew. When she didn't come home that evening, Mikheyev was arrested. He was tortured in the usual way -- the way Indians tortured white settlers and Chechen fighters torture Russian contract soldiers. Among other things the cops attached electric wires to Mikheyev's earlobes, a technique they like to call zvonok Putinu, or 'a phone call to Putin.' Mikheyev confessed to rape and murder."

Since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 there have been many reports of torture by Russian forces with the use of electric shocks. A woman from Kherson reported that Russian soldiers tortured her with electric shocks and called the torture "a phone call to Zelenskyi".

See also

Tucker Telephone

References