A/HRC/13/42* page 106 (a) There were no instances of secret detention in the Russian system; (b) There was no involvement or collaboration in secret detention on the territory of another State; (c) All detentions fell within the supervision of the Federal penitentiary and the Ministry of the Interior; (d) For the period 2007-2016, a programme was being implemented to improve detention conditions; (e) The office of the General Prosecutor supervises situations of detention, and if there is a violation, it is reported; (f) All places of deprivation of liberty are subordinate to the Federal Service for the Execution of Punishment or the Ministry of the Interior. The Federal Action Programme on the Development of the Penitentiary System provides for a steady improvement of the system. The Prosecutor’s office ensures that the legislation is respected. 210. In its submission to the Human Rights Committee at its ninety-seventh session, the Government of the Russian Federation also stated that criminal investigations had been opened into several cases of disappearances in the Chechen Republic. Some of these investigations were suspended owing to a failure to identify the person or person to be charged or the whereabouts of the accused. The authorities had also created a comprehensive programme on preventing kidnappings and disappearances.411 211. After receiving the Government’s replies to the questionnaire, the experts conducted interviews with several men who testified about secret detention in the Russian Federation. Owing to fear of repression against themselves or their families, and because of the climate of impunity,412 most people addressed did not want to be interviewed by the experts or to be identified. The experts agreed to preserve the confidentiality of the sources, as the interviewed persons feared that the divulgation of their identities could cause harm to the individuals involved. 212. In an interview conducted on 12 October 2009, X.Z., a Chechen who had been living in Dagestan, and was now living in exile, explained that he had been held in secret detention and tortured for five days in the summer of 2005, apparently in connection with a search for a wounded man who had been brought to his house by a friend. Blindfolded throughout his 411 412 CCPR/C/RUS/6. On 29 December 2009, Nurdi Nukhazhiev, Ombudsman of Chechnya, reported that “close relatives of more than 5000 kidnapped and missing citizens are exasperated by the inaction over many years of the Military Prosecutor’s Office and the Military Investigative Department in addressing this problem”. See www.eng.kavkaz-uzel.ru/articles/12126/ and the original website of the Ombudsman (in Russian) at the address http://chechenombudsman.ru/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=708&Itemid=198.