15 October 2008, Sochi (Krasnodarskiy kray). The Lazarevskiy district court of Sochi found eight SPF officers from the State Administration of Internal Affairs for Krasnodarskiy kray accused of a mass battery of vacationers in Druzhba children’s camp. The court sentenced officer Zubenko to 3.5 years of imprisonment in a standard security penal colony and obliged him to pay out 15 000 roubles, officer Petrenko to 3.5 years of imprisonment in a standard security penal colony, officer Ozhgikhin to 5 years of imprisonment in a standard security penal colony and a fine of 30 000 roubles, officer Pruidze to 2.5 years in a colony –settlement, convict Yezerskiy to 3.5 years of imprisonment in a standard security penal colony, convict Zabeyvorota to 3.5 years of imprisonment in a standard security penal colony, convict Korolyov to 3 years of imprisonment in a standard security penal colony, convict Pimenov to 4.5 years of imprisonment in a standard security penal colony. Some of the officers who had signed a written pledge not to leave town were arrested in the courtroom.  

The court determined that at night on 19 July 2006 in Nizhneye Makopse about 50 officers of Sochi special police forces (mostly wearing masks) started unlawfully and for no reason detaining men and teenagers using violence, electric shockers and bamboo sticks. Later the victims were taken to the Lazarevskiy district police station where they were denied medical aid and were forced to sign consent to detention under the threat of violence.    

In order to establish the circumstances of the case and to conduct a public investigation a mobile task force consisting of Russian human rights defenders went to Sochi. The task force included specialists of the Interregional Committee against Torture (Nizhny Novgorod), Mothers Supporting the Accused, Detainees and Convicts (Krasnodar), Man and Law (Mariy El), and the Public Verdict Foundation. Lawyers’ professionalism and effective cooperation of human rights defenders and state investigators provided for an objective investigation of the events.   

The proceedings lasted more than two years. 28 people were acknowledged victims under the case, 5 of them are minors. The SPF officers’ actions are described as “excess of official powers with violent treatment and use of special tools” (art. 286 of the RF CC).