Justice of the peace of judicial precinct no.5 of Yoshkar-Ola brought in an acquittal on the officer of justice, thereby declaring non-guilty the person who had used physical force in respect of a 60-yar-old woman. 

    You will remember that in April 2007 pensioner Vera Nasarova applied to the regional human rights NGO “Man and Law” complaining against unlawful actions of an officer of justice. She explained that on 12 December 2006 she came to the office of justices of the peace of Yoshkar-Ola to lodge a complaint. In the office she came up with the officer of justice whom she had known before. They had very tense relations. The officer was prejudiced against her: for no reasons he “oppressed” her, did not let her go inside the building, took away her passport and did not give it back for a long time, disgraced her before other people. That is why this time Vera Nazarova in order to avoid any conflict without waiting for his demand showed him her passport open and explained the purpose of her visit. However this was not enough. The officer in a rude manner required Ms. Nazarova to give him her passport (“Give your passport or will get into troubles!”) and tell him the content of her complaint, what she refused to do.

    Then the officer called for his assistance and then repeated his demands in a different manner, saying that he would have to use force if she refused. According to Ms. Nazarova he did that in order to draw the attention of visitors of the court, thereby placing the incident in a favorable light for him and making his demands sound lawful. When the woman refused and, ignoring him, went farther the officer seized her by the hand, hit her several times and pushed her out of the building in such a way that she fell down. 

    Dmitry Egorshin, an expert in public investigations of the Committee Against Torture in the Republic of Mari-El, says that human rights defenders completely disagree with the verdict and are going to lodge a complaint against it with the Yoshkar-Ola City Court, and if necessary with a higher judicial instance. Despite the fact that forensic medical experts had revealed bodily injuries inflicted on Ms. Nazarova, the court acquitted the officer and did not associate the bruises and abrasions on her body with his aggressive behavior in respect of the pensioner. It comes out that the actions and demands of the officer of justice were found lawful and grounded, and that he had not used physical force against Ms. Nazarova. And she was in fact presented before the public as a “rowdy” who had disturbed the public order by her behavior.