CAT/C/63/D/637/2014
United Nations
Convention against Torture
and Other Cruel, Inhuman
or Degrading Treatment
or Punishment
Distr.: General
26 June 2018
Original: English
Committee against Torture
Decision adopted by the Committee under article 22 of the
Convention, concerning communication No. 637/2014*, **
Communication submitted by:
Danil Gabdulkhakov (not represented by
counsel)
Alleged victim:
The complainant
State party:
Russian Federation
Date of complaint:
25 July 2014 (initial submission)
Date of present decision:
17 May 2018
Subject matters:
Torture by police officers; lack of prompt and
impartial investigation; use in court of
confessions obtained under duress
Procedural issues:
Admissibility — lack of substantiation;
other international procedure
Substantive issues:
Torture; prompt and impartial investigation;
forced confession
Articles of the Convention:
1, 2, 4, 12, 13, 15 and 16
1.
The complainant is Danil Gabdulkhakov, a national of the Russian Federation of
Bashkir origin, born in 1982. He claims that the Russian Federation has violated his rights
under articles 2, 4, 12, 13, 15 and 16 of the Convention. The complainant is not represented
by counsel.
The facts as presented by the complainant
2.1
On 22 September 2007, the complainant, his wife and two friends were arrested on
suspicion, inter alia, of preparation of a terrorist attack, participation in an unlawful armed
group and the murder of police officers. In the process of the arrest, the complainant and
the others were forced to undress. The arrest was filmed and broadcast on television few
days later. In the police car, on the way to the Department of Internal Affairs in
Ponomarevka, Orenburg oblast, the complainant, who was handcuffed, was beaten by the
police officers, was made to sit in a painful position and was subjected to threats of death
* Adopted by the Committee at its sixty-third session (23 April–18 May 2018).
** The following members of the Committee participated in the consideration of the communication:
Essadia Belmir, Abdelwahab Hani, Claude Heller Rouassant, Jens Modvig, Ana Racu, Diego
Rodríguez-Pinzón, Sébastien Touzé and Honghong Zhang. Pursuant to rule 109, read in conjunction
with rule 15, of the Committee’s rules of procedure, and paragraph 10 of the guidelines on the
independence and impartiality of members of the human rights treaty bodies (the Addis Ababa
guidelines), Bakhtiyar Tuzmukhamedov did not participate in the consideration of the communication.
GE.18-10463(E)