Today the Oktyabrsky city court of Bashkiria has convicted junior police sergeant V.F. Litvinov from the patrol and point duty service company of the Oktyabrsky Department of Internal Affairs. The officer is found guilty under cl. “a”, p.3 art. 286 of the RF Criminal Code (abuse of office with cruel treatment). The court has sentenced him to3 years of conditional imprisonment on a 2-year probation and a prohibition of state service for 3 years.
On 5 December 2007 in the city of Oktyabrsky, Republic of Bashkortostan, junior police sergeant V.F. Litvinov together with senior police sergeant P.N. Timofeyev detained Mr. E.E. Guseynov. In course of arbitrary detention they twisted Mr. Geseynov’s arms behind his back as a result of which Mr. Litvinov broke Mr. Guseynov’s left arm.
You may remember that earlier, on 13 February 2009, the Oktyabrsky city court found Litvinov innocent under cl. “a”, p.3 art. 286 of the RF Criminal Code due to the lack of corpus delicti in his actions.
Lawyers of the Bashkirian representation filed a cassation appeal against the acquittal which was sustained by the Supreme Court of Bashkiria. The representation provided a lawyer to represent Mr. Guseynov in the Supreme Court of Bashkiria. When criminal proceedings were resumed in the Oktyabrsky city court, one of the representation workers became victim Guseynov’s legal representative.
It should be mentioned that at present the Committee against Torture is conducting three public investigations into allegations of torture in the city of Oktyabrsky, Bashkiria. Right now the Investigation Committee under the RF Prosecutor’s Office investigates into the murder of Anton Saveykin and the battery of Anna Mikhailova. The Committee against Torture is actively involved in the investigation of these case, it has filed numerous motions about the necessity of certain investigative measures, has provided lawyers for victims. Besides, the Committee against Torture has applied to the Russian Ministry of the Interior asking it to check how the heads of the Oktyabrsky Department of Internal Affairs, Bashkiria, perform their duties. This address was submitted for consideration to the Bashkirian Ministry of the Interior that has not replied yet.