A/HRC/13/42* page 105 A considerable number of persons alleged that they had been held for some time, and in most cases ill-treated, in places which did not appear to be official detention facilities, before being transferred to a recognised law enforcement structure or released … As for places where persons may be unlawfully detained, a number of consistent allegations were received in respect of one or more places in the village of Tsentoroy, and of the “Vega base” located in the outskirts of Gudermes. Several allegations were also received of unlawful detentions in the Shali and Urus-Martan areas.408 In its statement, the Committee indicated that the problem of what it called “unlawful detention” persisted in the Chechen Republic as well as other parts of the North Caucasian region. It described its visits to an unofficial place of detention in Tsentoroy, the Vega base and the Headquarters of the Vostok Battalion in Gudermes. Although no more detainees were held there, the Committee found clear signs that these places had been previously used for detention purposes. The Committee’s observations are confirmed by judgements made by the European Court of Human Rights, which has frequently established violations of the European Convention on Human Rights, some of which involved periods of secret detention.409 In October 2009, the Human Rights Committee expressed its concern about ongoing reports of torture and ill-treatment, enforced disappearance, arbitrary arrest, extrajudicial killing and secret detention in Chechnya and other parts of the North Caucasus committed by military, security services and other state agents, and that the authors of these violations appeared to enjoy widespread impunity owing to a systematic lack of effective investigation and prosecution. The Committee was particularly concerned that the number of disappearances and abduction cases in Chechnya had increased in the period 2008-2009.410 209. The Government of the Russian Federation, in its response to a questionnaire about the present study (see annex I), declared that: 408 Public statement concerning the Chechen Republic of the Russian Federation, 13 March 2007 (CPT/Inf (2007) 17). 409 See some of the most recent decisions on violations involving secret detention: Babusheva and Others v. Russia (app. 33944/05), judgement of 24 September 2009; Asadulayeva and Others v. Russia (app. 15569/06), judgement of 17 September 2009; Mutsayeva v. Russia (app. 24297/05), judgement of 23 July 2009; Yusupova and Others v. Russia (app. 5428/05), judgement of 9 July 2009; Khasuyeva v. Russia (app. 28159/03), judgement of 11 June 2009; Khantiyeva and Others v. Russia (app. 43398/06); Satabayeva v. Russia (app. 21486/06); Vakhayeva and Others v. Russia (app. 1758/04), judgement of 29 October 2009; and Karimov and Others v. Russia (app. 29851/05), judgement of 17 July 2009. 410 CCPR/C/RUS/CO/6, para. 14. See also Dick Marty, “Situation in the North Caucasus region: security and human rights”, second information report for the Committee of Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Council of Europe, 29 September 2009, available from http://assembly.coe.int/CommitteeDocs/2009/ajdoc43_2009.pdf, para. 6. The annex to the report contains several cases of abduction leading to various periods of secret detention in different Federation subjects in the Caucasus that corroborate such reports.