НАСТОЯЩИЙ МАТЕРИАЛ (ИНФОРМАЦИЯ) ПРОИЗВЕДЕН, РАСПРОСТРАНЕН И (ИЛИ) НАПРАВЛЕН ИНОСТРАННЫМ АГЕНТОМ «КОМАНДА ПРОТИВ ПЫТОК» ЛИБО КАСАЕТСЯ ДЕЯТЕЛЬНОСТИ ИНОСТРАННОГО АГЕНТА «КОМАНДА ПРОТИВ ПЫТОК» | 18+

A 26-year-old resident of the Stavropol region, a local businessman named Eldar Kulbyakov, stated that the police tortured him in Pyatigorsk: they put him in a «stretch», electrocuted the man and also beat him. The officers demanded that Mr. Kulbyakov confess to the theft.

Eldar Kulbyakov recalls that early in the morning of 31 May, the policemen burst into the hotel room in the city of Essentuki where Eldar was staying. The officers searched his room and car as part of a car theft case. Subsequently, Mr. Kulbyakov was taken to the police station in Pyatigorsk.

According to Mr. Kulbyakov’s description of the events, at the station, he was kept for 6 hours without food or water; then he was interrogated using a polygraph. After that, as Eldar recalls, other officers, who did not introduce themselves, handcuffed him and put a canvas bag over his head, took him out of the building and put him in a car. Mr. Kulbyakov was not told which unit these officers were from – he identified their uniform as camouflage (green pixel). One of the men, according to Eldar, asked him: «Don’t remember anything yet?», and, after Eldar’s negative answer, said: «Well, then let’s go.» So, Mr. Kulbyakov was brought to an unknown basement.

As Mr. Kulbyakov indicates, there were about four officers who put a plastic bag on his head instead of the canvas bag, and, wrapping it with tape, began to torture him, demanding Kulbyakov’s confession to the crime:

«They stretched me out and said that an “executioner” was coming for me. After some time I heard footsteps. They spread my arms, connected electrodes to my hands and began to pass current. I was in a lot of pain, I said that there is no need to torture me, I will sign everything. They asked what I wanted to confess. I said: whatever you want. This answer didn’t suit them.»

Eldar Kulbyakov states that subsequently, the officers connected electrodes to his buttocks and gave him a current, used a stun gun, threatened him with rape and beat him on the head. Mr. Kulbyakov signed a confession for having committed the theft.

Later, Eldar Kulbyakov was returned to the police station and interrogated as a witness. He recalls that only then was he able to remove the bag from his head. Then Kulbyakov was questioned as a suspect, and during that interrogation he renounced the previously signed testimony. After interrogation, Mr. Kulbyakov was taken to Stavropol and placed in a temporary detention center. On 1 June, at Eldar’s request, an ambulance was called. He had injuries from handcuffs on his wrists, electric shock marks on his hands and buttocks, and numerous marks from a stun gun on his back. These traces were recorded by Kulbyakov’s attorney, who arrived after the interrogation. Photographs of the injuries are at the disposal of the Crew Against Torture.

On 2 June, the Leninskiy District Court of Stavropol put Eldar Kulbyakov in custody for two months. The man is currently in pre-trial detention center No. 1 of Stavropol. At the same time, the Investigative Committee opened an inquiry into Mr. Kulbyakov’s complaint about torture.