Today, on July 11, 2014, the Nizhegorodskiy District Court of Nizhny Novgorod city awarded Anton Shestopalov 100 thousand rubles in compensation for moral damage inflicted through inefficient investigation of torture that he had been subjected to in 2004 in Sovetsky Department of the Interior.
In July 2004 Tamara Shestopalova applied to the Committee Against Torture for legal assistance. She said that on May 23, 2004 her under-age son Anton was detained on suspicion of rape of a girl who was his former classmate. The boy was taken to Sovetsky Department of the Interior of Nizhny Novgorod. There, according to Anton, he was forced to give confession statements to a grave criminal offense after several hours of torture and battery. Medical examination on the following day observed such injuries as сlosed craniocerebral trauma, brain concussion, and numerous injuries and bruises on chest and knees.
It should be noted that on May 26, 2004 the victim made a written statement testifying that Shestopalov did not rape her and she did not have any claims against him.
The checking of facts, reported by Anton, took the investigative authorities two years. Six refusals to initiate criminal proceedings were issued, which were subsequently appealed against by lawyers with the Committee Against Torture, and quashed as unlawful and unfounded.
At last, on February 20, 2006 criminal case was initiated, but with all the time that had passed a lot of essential investigative steps that could obtain evidence against the perpetrators lost their timeliness and relevance. Subsequently the case was suspended on the grounds that all possible investigative steps had not led to identification of the perpetrators, and it still remains in this status to the present day.
It should be noted that on May 24 of this year the statute of limitations under relevant article for prosecution of the police officers expired and now the guilty party will not be punished. However, the state admitted that the teenager was subjected to violence by unidentified police officers. Thus, on November 17, 2008 the Sovetsky District Court of Nizhny Novgorod city awarded Shestopalov 50 thousand rubles in compensation for moral damage inflicted through battery in the police department.
In their turn, on October 16, 2007 lawyers with the Committee Against Torture lodged an application with the ECHR on behalf of Shestopalov, and in the nearest future the judgment on the merits is expected.
Aleksey Matasov, who represents Anton Shestopalov’s interests, commented on today’s decision of the court: «On the whole, we are satisfied with the sum of the awarded compensation. Compared to recent past when in similar cases ten or fifteen thousand were awarded, some progress is evident. Not so long ago our colleagues from Bashkortostan won by court action the same amount of one hundred thousand rubles for inefficient investigation. Hopefully, this is not a coincidence, but a positive trend in this direction that is being formed».