Yesterday Lazarevskoye district court continued hearing the criminal case against Sochi Special Police Forces officers who are accused of excess of powers during the raid on children’s camp “Druzhba” in summer 2006.
Witnesses of the defense, SPF officers who took part in the police raid in Nizhnee Makopse where the camp is situated, were questioned. They claimed that no one abused the detainees and applied special tools to them. According to the witnesses of the defense, policemen were only checking documents. Moreover, all police officers who were questioned state that the policemen did not wear masks during the raid.
Meanwhile, on the 21st of November Presidium of Krasnodar regional court accepted the supervisory appeal of the victims and cancelled the cassation resolution of October 10, 2007 of the judicial division of Krasnodar regional court to free indictees A.B.Petrenko, A.Y.Ezerskiy, V.A.Zabeyvorota from custody and submitted the case for a new trial to the 1st instance court.
At 12 o’clock on November 21, 2007 the criminal judicial division of Krasnodar regional court accepted the victims’ appeal and cancelled the resolution of October 19, 2007 issued by S.P.Bogdanovich, federal judge of Lazarevskoye district court of Sochi, to free indictees A.B.Petrenko, A.Y.Ezerskiy, V.A.Zabeyvorota from custody and submitted the case on restraint measure selection for a new trial to Lazarevskoye district court of Sochi sitting in a different composition.
Hearing of the case will go on. The public investigation of the events in Druzhba was carried out by the Committee against Torture, the“Public Verdict” Foundationand several other Russian NGOs. At present lawyer Nikoly Shakhovalov represents the victims’ interests in court.