Yesterday the Sovietskiy district court witnessed termination of the debates in the context of a criminal case against three police officers – detoxification centre staff – one of whom is charged with murder, and others – with negligence.

The state prosecution demands 14 years in an increased security penal colony for defendant Maslov. The limitation period for bringing to criminal responsibility of Mr.Antonov and Mr.Ageyev expires soon and the proceedings will be stopped soon.

Defendant Maslov will make his final statement at 10 a.m. on July 31.

You may remember that in July 2007 the Sovietskiy district court of Nizhny Novgorod found former police officer Maslov guilty of murdering Gidromash plumber Alexander Anoshin and sentenced him under p.1 of article 105 of the RF Criminal Code and p.3 of art.286 of the RF CC to 12 years of imprisonment in an increased security penal colony. Mr.Ageyev and Mr.Antonov received 4 years of suspended sentence. On November 30, 2007 this sentence was cancelled because of lenient punishment and insufficient motivation. It should be mentioned that the Committee against Torture conducted a public investigation of the fact of Alexander Anoshin’s death. It also represented the victim’s relatives in court.

At present lawyer of the Committee against Torture Ms. Nina Pleshkan continues working with Alexander Anoshin’s case in court.