You may remember that Benediktovich applied to the investigation authorities claiming that he had been cruelly abused by the Arzamas police on September 30, 2010. According to Yury, he had been beaten for several hours in various body regions and had his fingers crushed. As a result Yury had been hospitalized.

However, the Arzamas Investigation Department did not take the necessary steps to find the perpetrators. Investigators kept issuing refusals to instigate criminal proceedings, as those responsible for tortures stayed unpunished. Hence, there is nothing surprising in the fact that on December 17, 2010 the same police officers again abused Benediktovich. According to Yury, they took him out to the forest, beat him and threatened with death. That time Benediktovich was inflicted a toe and knee fracture, craniocerebral injury and multiple contusions.

But even after that the investigative authorities remained indifferent. For a long time the investigator refrained from taking obvious investigative steps. As a result, some evidence cannot be obtained anymore, and it no longer makes sense to perform certain investigative activities. A year has passed since Benediktovich’s application to the authorities; however, criminal proceedings have not been instigated yet.

Earlier the Arzamas Investigation Department Head and investigator were held disciplinary liable for omissions upon the request of the Nizhny Novgorod Regional Prosecutor’s Office. This time the performance of the Arzamas Investigation Department has been assessed by the court.

It must be noted that this is not the first incident of omissions in this department. For instance, the Arzamas Investigation Department for a year stonewalled investigation under the case of Natalia Stryomina, victim of sexual abuse by the police. Only when the case file was transferred to the regional directorate, the investigation got moving and the perpetrators were finally held responsible.

We hope that the Regional Investigation Directorate will pay attention to the problem of ineffective investigation into the allegations of police abuse and improve the operation of both the Arzamas ID and other investigative departments of the region.