The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Mariy El still hides the details of the monstrous incident at the traffic police station in Volzhsk where several days ago police major Mikhailov shot his workmate Lebedev, seriously wounded another policeman and tried to commit suicide.

At present Mr.  Mikhailov and the wounded officer are in hospital in a grave condition.

The Committee against Torture learnt about this from the deceased officer’s friends.  A bit later the policeman’s mother, Ms. Lyudmila Lebedeva, applied to human rights defenders from the Mariy El NGO Man and Law asking to render her legal assistance.

Ms. Lebedeva is not found victim under the criminal case on her son’s murder yet, she was never questioned at the Investigation department under the Mariy El Prosecutor’s office and still does not know the details of her son’s death.

Lawyers of the local office of the Committee against Torture and regional NGO Man and Law have conducted a check that showed that the state allegedly violated article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (protection of individuals from arbitrary taking of life).

Basing on the results of the check we can suppose that state representatives committed a series of violations, for example, there is no information how the official investigation was conducted, and this violates the rights and legal interest of the deceased officer’s relatives.

In connection with this human rights defenders decided to carry out a public investigation of the fact of officer Lebedev’s death and to render professional assistance to his relatives.