Yesterday the cassation instance of the Bashkirian Supreme Court tried the appeal of the RF Finance Ministry represented by the Federal Treasury Administration in Bashkiria and the Blagoveschensk district Department of Internal Affairs against the decision of the Leninsky district court of Ufa awarding 80 thousand rubles as compensation of moral damage to Sergey Antipin, victim of the notorious police “mopping-up” of December 2004. The appeal was dismissed and the decision entered into force. Mr. Antipin was represented by lawyers of the Interregional Committee against Torture.  

It should be mentioned that Mr. Ivanov, head of the Blagoveschensk district Department of Internal Affairs , insisted that the decision should be cancelled for the following reason:

“…creation of such case law, unjustified and unmotivated compensation amounting to 80 thousand rubles will inevitably encourage other victims (of the events that took place in Blagoveschensk in December 2004), more than 200 people altogether, to go to court, and this will affect the federal budget”.

Having listened to and evaluated the statements of the Committee lawyers representing Sergey Agapkin’s interests, the civil division of the Bashkirian Supreme Court dismissed the appeal and upheld the initial judgment.

The Committee against Torture continues helping the victims and is preparing several other claims to obtain compensation of moral damage incurred by the crimes committed during the raid in Balgoveschensk.