The Bashkirian Ministry of the Interior has tried to present the crime committed by its staff who got mixed over the address as a special operation against unknown Wahhabis.
On 16 April 2010 the Bashkirian representation of the Interregional Committee against Torture received an application from Raushan Gatiatullin’s relatives. They claimed that the police had broken into their house and wounded Ruashan by shooting at him. Workers of the Bashkirian representation of the Interregional Committee against Torture checked that fact and decided to start a public investigation. The data gathered in course of the preliminary check suggests violation of article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (prohibition of torture, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment) – infliction of bodily harm by the police.
According to Mr. Gatiatullin, on 30 March 2010 in the village of Budanyar, Alsheyevsky district of Bashkiria, three police officers stormed into the house of his grandmother. He, his mother and grandmother were inside the house at that moment. When the police ran into the room, they twisted Raushan’s arms behind his back, after that one of the officers shot at Raushan’s back. As a result Raushan obtained a perforating gutter wound in the right chest and a broken right shoulder. Having broken the shoulder, the bullet went out, passed several centimeters away from the face of the second officer, punched the walls of the kitchen cabinet, hit the ceiling, rebounded and flew between the two elderly women to the opposite end of the room. Only by chance no one else got injured. Although Raushan was bleeding, the police denied him medical aid and handcuffed his hands behind his back. At that moment three more police officers entered the room. It took the relatives long to talk the police into taking the handcuffs off the wounded man. At the same time Raushan and his relatives claim that they did not show any resistance to the police and did not pose any threat to them.
The Bashkirian police heads promptly reported about a special operation against Islamic extremists in the village of Budanyar, Mr. Gatiatullin was referred to as one of the Wahhabis. However, later it turned out that the police had got mixed up over the place of the raid and broken into the house of a peaceful citizen. It should be mentioned that Mr. Gatiatullin has not been accused.
The mass media reported about some “extremist papers” seized in the house, according to the police. Those materials appeared to be a CD with Koran and pictures of Raushan’s children.
At present the Bashkirian representation of the Interregional Committee against Torture is trying to make the authorities start a criminal case against the police officers in charge of wounding Raushan and conduct an effective investigation.