Today, on 14 February 2018, the Central District Court of Orenburg upheld the amount of compensation for moral damage to the former convict who was subjected to battery and violent actions of sexual nature which were organized by superiors of Penal Colony-Settlement No.11. Criminal actions of the Federal Penitentiary Service cost the state 220 thousand rubles.
As we have previously reported, Penal-Colony Settlement No.11 of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for the Orenburg region attracted the attention of human rights back in summer of 2013, when Irina Balashova applied for legal assistance. According to the woman, her partner Sergey Nikonorov was trapped in unbearable and inhuman conditions created by the staff of Penal Colony (settlement) no. 11 for Orenburg region, which is headed by Filyus Khusainov: convicts were systematically subjected to ill-treatment, including threats of sexual abuse. Concerning Mr Nikonorov, the treatment had been caused by his refusals to work at construction sites, and his forced labor complaints were lodged with the Investigative Committee and the Prosecutor’s Office. Based on these episodes former head of this penal institution Filyus Khusainov was convicted and sentenced to three years’ prison term with serving the sentence in a standard regime penal colony.
In end of 2013 the picture of appalling abuse of power in Penal-Colony Settlement No.11 was supplemented by testimonies of convicts K. and D. (full names are not given due to ethical reasons), who informed that they became victims of crimes committed by the Colony’s officers. They applied to the Orenburg branch of the Committee Against Torture out of desperation, since after the failed attempt to flee (in its turn, motivated by batteries) one of them was raped by the convict from the so called «core group» in the presence of the Colony officers and at their order and this was recorded by the administration officers using the video recorder.
This is what the victim said later to the investigating officer: on 13 October 2013 Deputy Head of the Colony Settlement for Security and Field Work major Murat Kumarov took him to the punitive isolation ward. There he gave the order to other convicts to beat him. The victim was beaten severely, no one spared him, he fainted away several times. Kumarov helped him regain his consciousness pouring cold water on him. Several employees of the correctional facility were watching this including Filyus Khusainov who was the head of the colony at that time. After the beating Khusainov gave the order: “Make them line up here!” and around fifteen employees of the correctional facility entered the room. Two convicts from the group of the activists who followed the orders of the colony administration employees were holding K., the third one was given the order to touch the face and lips of K. with his genitals and so he did it. Deputy Head of the Colony Murat Kumarov was recording all this with the dashboard camera. And only when the torturer said that the film is ready, they stopped to abuse K. and the employees of the colony broke up.
The court also established that Khusainov ordered his subordinate to conceal the fact of convict K.’s attempt to flee to avoid negative consequences due to committed mistakes and substandard work. Instead, a fake report was drawn up regarding convict K., which stated that the latter was allegedly apprehended by the penal colony officers in the state of drunkenness and offered resistance.
This fake resulted in putting convict K. in the punitive confinement, and his service of sentence conditions were changed for more stringent ones.
Apart from taking part in violent activities of sexual nature and abuse of office, Kumarov was also declared guilty of taking a bribe in the amount of 24400 rubles.
On 5 April of this year judge of the Novotroitsky City Court Pavel Ivlev passed a judgement of conviction regarding the former superiors of Penal Colony No 11. Khusainov was convicted to seven years of imprisonment, and Marat Kumarov – to five and a half.
The convicts and their defense lawyers, not satisfied with the court’s verdict, appealed against it, but on 27 June the judicial panel of the Orenburg Regional Court upheld the ruling with regard to Philyus Khusainov and Murat Kumarov. The verdict entered legal force.
After the verdict entered legal force lawyer with the Committee Against Torture Albina Mudarisova, representing the interests of K., applied to court with a lawsuit on compensation of moral damage inflicted to the victim by crimes of ex-superiors of Penal Colony-Settlement No.11.
On 7 November of last year judge of the Central District Court of Orenburg Margarita Besayeva partially satisfied the claims on the lawsuit, having awarded to victim K. a compensation for moral damage in the amount of two hundred thousand rubles out of the claimed sum of two and a half million rubles.
The victim and his representative were dissatisfied with the amount of compensation and submitted a complaint to the Orenburg Regional Court. Today, the judicial panel of the Orenburg Regional Court, having listened to the arguments of the participants of the trial, upheld the ruling of the court of the first instance.
“Certainly, it is very difficult to come up with a monetary equivalent to such human values as human dignity and honor, personal inviolability, however, it evident that two hundred and twenty thousand rubles is not their cost”, – lawyer with the Committee Against Torture Albina Mudarisova, representing the victim’s interests, comments on today’s court ruling.