CCPR/C/125/D/2322/2013
which caused him to lose consciousness several times. He was transported to the office of
the traffic police in the village of Olgino where he was searched in the presence of
witnesses. 2 Before being searched, he was given a bottle of water and told to wash the
blood off his face. After the search, he was taken to the Kanavinsky district police unit.
During the night of 14 June 2007, he was examined by a doctor in city hospital No. 4 in
Kanavinsky region. The medical report affirms injuries to the soft facial tissue and nose and
hypodermic hematoma in both eye sockets.
2.2
On 15 June 2007, the author was officially charged with illegal trafficking of drugs.
On the same day, he was placed in a pretrial detention facility in Kstovo where an
ambulance had to be called to inject the author with painkillers.
2.3
On 21 June 2007, the author’s lawyer submitted a motion to the case investigator
requesting a medical forensic examination of the author because of the injuries suffered at
the time of his arrest, claiming that he had been assaulted by the arresting officers. On 22
June 2007, while being interrogated by the investigator, the author himself stated that he
had been assaulted by the arresting police officers, as a result of which he sustained injuries
to his spleen, lungs and shoulder and complained of headache and dizziness. 3 On 23 June
2007, the investigator denied the lawyer’s motion on the grounds that the injuries were not
related to the crime the author was being investigated for and that the allegations of
beatings by the police should be separated from the main case and investigated
independently. On 31 August 2007, the allegation of beatings by the police was separated
into a separate file and referred to the Kstovo district prosecutor’s office for investigation;
however, no medical forensic examination of the author was conducted until 19 February
2009.
2.4
On 6 September 2007, the Kstovo district prosecutor’s office investigator decided
not to open a criminal case against the police officers because the author had resisted arrest
and, as was explained by the arresting officers during the investigation, the use of combat
Sambo techniques by the police in such cases was permitted by the Law on Police. On 15
September 2008, the author’s lawyer appealed the investigator’s decision to the city court
of Kstovo. On 19 September 2008, the city court found the investigator’s decision of 6
September 2007 unlawful on the grounds that there had been almost no investigation
conducted into the allegations of the author.
2.5
On 8 October 2008, the director of the investigation department of the Kstovo
district prosecutor’s office revoked the investigator’s decision of 6 September 2007 and
requested further investigation. On 17 October 2008, the same investigator of the Kstovo
district prosecutor’s office again refused to open a criminal case on the grounds that the
conduct of the police officers was in compliance with the Law on Police. On 27 July 2009,
after the author’s lawyer’s appeal, the director of the investigation department of the
Kstovo district prosecutor’s office revoked the investigator’s decision of 17 October 2008
as it was based on an incomplete assessment, and requested further investigation.
2.6
On 6 August 2009, the Kstovo district prosecutor’s office investigator again refused
to initiate a criminal investigation. On 19 March 2010, the author submitted an appeal
challenging the investigator’s decision of 6 August 2009 to the city court of Kstovo. On 29
March 2010, the city court of Kstovo dismissed the author’s claim. On 7 April 2010, the
author submitted a cassation appeal to the regional court of Nizhegorodsky region. On 1
June 2010, the regional court upheld the author’s appeal and returned the matter to the city
court of Kstovo. According to the regional court, the investigation was not complete as it
did not include interrogation of eyewitnesses and medical personnel who had treated the
author’s injuries. Consequently, on 19 June 2010, the city court of Kstovo declared the
investigator’s decision of 6 August 2009 unlawful and requested further investigation. On 8
1
2
3
2
According to the author, six men in civilian clothes (later revealed to be police officers) tried to
apprehend him and his friends on the street. Since he did not know that the men were from the police
he tried to run away, but after a few metres he stopped and sat on the ground. At that point, he claims,
the officers started beating him.
As a result of the search the police found drugs in the author’s pockets.
A copy of the interrogation protocol also shows that the author wanted his injuries to be assessed by a
forensic medical examiner and his clothing to be tested because it was bloodied from his injuries.