A man from Nizhny Novgorod claims that the police burnt his hands with a soldering iron to obtain a confession from him.
The Interregional Committee Against Torture has concluded a preliminary check and stated an investigation under Vladimir Marusin’s application. Mr. Marusin claims that officers of the 5th police department of the Nizhny Novgorod Directorate of the Interior (former Nizhegorodsky district DI) abused him in order to make him confess to a crime.
According to Vladimir Marusin, on 30 December 2009 he was tortured by the staff the 5th police department of the Nizhny Novgorod Directorate of the Interior who wanted him to confess to committing a murder. Marusin was not able to stand the tortures and wrote a confession. After that Vladimir was placed in custody and taken to the remand prison (SIZO-52/1).
On 2 February 2010 Marusin was again taken to the 5th police department and tortured. According to Vladimir, for the second time he was tortured in response to his application to the Prosecutor’s Office in which he had resiled form the confession on the grounds that it had been forced out of him by unlawful methods. In particular, Mr. Marusin has told the Committee lawyers that the police put a plastic bag on his head and shut off the air. One of the officers burnt Vladimir’s hands with a soldering tool. Besides, the police threatened him with violence in the remand prison.
When Mr. Marusin returned to the remand prison he asked for medical aid and had his injuries documented.
The abovementioned facts were checked by the Nizhegorodsky district Investigation Department of the IA of the IC under the RF Prosecutor’s Office for Nizhny Novgorod region. The check resulted in a refusal to open a criminal case. Investigator Tsaryov did not even pay attention to the burns on Vladimir’s hands and did not find it necessary to explain their appearance somehow. The ICAT considers this refusal unlawful and ill-founded and is going to appeal against it in the nearest future.
You may remember that it is not the first time that officers of the 5th police department (which used to be the Nizhegorodsky district DI) are in the centre of a torture scandal. Very soon the verdict will be delivered for two officers of the same department charged with abusing Alexey Yakimov. A little more than a year ago another officer of the Nizhegorodsky district DI was convicted for beating up a detainee.