CCPR/C/126/D/2306/2013
1.
The author of the communication is V.K., a Russian national born in 1978. He
claims to be a victim of a violation by the Russian Federation of his rights under articles 2
(3) (b), 5 (2), 7, 9, 14 (3) (e) and (g) and (5), 17 (1) and 23 of the Covenant. The Optional
Protocol entered into force for the Russian Federation on 1 January 1992. The author is not
represented by counsel.
The facts as presented by the author
2.1
In 2010, the author worked as a penitentiary officer in the village of Chkalovsk in
Primorsky Region, Russian Federation. On 31 August 2010 at around 8 p.m., while on duty,
he was arrested by unknown persons. They showed no court order or a prosecutor’s warrant
for the arrest but handcuffed him, forced him into their car and drove him to his residence.
They searched his flat for about one hour, threatening to “drive him, as he was, in uniform,
to a temporary detention facility and lock him in one cell with hard-core criminals”. The
search was also conducted in the absence of any court or prosecutor’s warrant.
2.2
Thereafter, the author was driven to the city of Spassk-Dalny. During the night of 31
August 2010, without counsel being present, he was forced by police officers to confess to
selling drugs. He was handcuffed and threatened that unless he confessed, the police
officers would report that drugs had been found at his place and that his father was also
involved in drug dealing. They claimed to be capable of anything, especially in order to
revenge their colleagues and warned him that he should not have testified against them.
They did not let him take medicine to treat his ulcer and chronic pancreatitis. Then they
forced him to confess, in writing and under torture, that he had sold drugs to V.V., an
official of the Drug Control Agency. After that, the author was released.
2.3
On 9 September 2010, an investigator notified the author of the charges filed against
him. The investigator refused to record the author’s statement regarding the exact
circumstances as to how his confession had been produced. After that, the author and his
relatives started receiving threats, which the author raised in court hearings. However, the
prosecutor and the court failed to take any measures. In particular, the court rejected the
author’s motion to play a record of his conversation with the police officers who had
threatened him. The author further claims that his statements were only partly reflected in
the trial record, which largely reproduced the indictment act.
2.4
The author also claims that, in violation of his rights, a number of witnesses,
including V.V., were not questioned by the Spassky district court. Furthermore, V.V.’s
statements were read out in court, despite the author’s objection. The author filed objections
to the trial transcript before the Spassky district court. He also requested the court to
provide him with copies of the objections and other relevant documents. However, the court
did not accede to his request. despite having made those documents available to the head of
the Spassky district prosecutor’s office.
2.5
On 2 December 2011, the Spassky district court found the author guilty of an
attempt to sell drugs under articles 30 (3) and 228 (1) (3) of the Criminal Code of the
Russian Federation and sentenced him to eight years and six months in prison. Following
the verdict and sentence, the author was placed in detention facility SIZO-4 in SpasskDalny. He claims that his guilt was not supported with any evidence, such as his
fingerprints; that an audio record was not examined in court; 1 that V.V., the main witness
who had acted as a buyer, was not questioned in court; and that he was on duty at the time
of the events and therefore had an alibi.
2.6
On 27 February 2012, the Primorsky regional court upheld the author’s sentence on
appeal. The author claims that his complaints regarding the forced confession and
continuous threats were disregarded by the regional court, by the president of the same
court on supervisory appeal, by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation and by the
Presidential Council on Human Rights and the State Duma of the Russian Federation.
2.7
On an unspecified date, the author attempted to send, from SIZO-4, an envelope
containing an application to the European Court of Human Rights, in which he complained
1
2
A copy of this audio disc was not provided to the Committee.