In Krasnogorsk, a criminal case is opened against unidentified police officers of local drug enforcement department with regard to them planting drugs on Boris Martynov and forging the results of the investigative activities. At the present time the court is already examining one more criminal case against former officer of this department, Spartak Sevumyan, who confessed of beating Martynov, demanding his confession.
As we have previously reported, Boris Martynov applied to the Committee Against Torture in March 2019 with a complaint about having been beaten up by the police officers in November of last year, who apprehended him on suspicion of drug dealing. Boris said that in the afternoon of 1 November 2018 he and some acquaintances of his used heroin in a forest belt in the outskirts of Krasnogorsk. According to Boris, after they took drugs, three drunk men appeared in the lawn and, without a single word, they started to beat him up together with his acquaintances. When the young men were already lying on the ground, the men explained that they were the police officers. Boris Martynov and three acquaintances of this were taken to the Drugs Control Department of the Directorate of the Interior of Russia for the urban district of Krasnogorsk.
“I was taken into the room and made to sit on a chair. So we sat, still handcuffed. Some officers were constantly coming and going, it was a kind of chaos. At some moment some of the police officers brought a bottle of vodka, they were drinking”, – Boris remembers.
Since Boris Martynov felt bad after apprehension, a medical ambulance was called and it arrived at 7 p.m. Having inspected Martynov, the medics established a preliminary diagnosis “vegetative dystonia syndrome”; no injuries were registered in the medical documents.
“After the medics left, the battery continued. The investigative officers were beating us up because we did not tell them who purchased heroin. One of them was walking around the department with a bottle of beer, he used to come near us and hit us in the face. My nose bled. At some point during the night from 1 to 2 November, the investigative officers said: “Take everything out of your pockets”. I checked the pocket of my jacket, and take out a small rolled plastic bag. I realized immediately they planted the drug. I threw it on the table, saying: “What are you doing? You know perfectly well this is not mine”. All of them, there was a whole crowd there, started to shout at me: “So?! Is this yours?!” I realized they would continue beating me up, and the pain was already intolerable, so I told them “Well, if you decided so, then, it’s mine”. When I gave consent that “this was mine”, the beating stopped. They even offered me some vodka. We drank a glass each, and I fell asleep on a chair”, – that’s how, according to Boris, the events of that night developed.
On 24 June 2019, a criminal case was opened under item “a” of Part 3 of Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the RF (“abuse of office using violence”). At the present time, this criminal case is examined at the Krasnogorsk City Court of the Moscow region. On the dock – former investigative officer of drug enforcement department Spartak Sevumyan. He acknowledged his guilt in the incriminated crime.
With regard to Martynov himself a criminal case was opened under part 2 of Article 228.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Illegal sale of narcotics”), which during examination by the Krasnogorsk City Court on 13 September 2019 was returned for additional investigation due to contradictions revealed during the judicial proceedings.
On 17 February 2020, investigator of the Investigative Department for Krasnogorsk of the Investigative Committee of the RF for the Moscow region Ekaterina Chutkova opened a criminal case under part 4 of Article 303 of the Criminal Code of the RF (“forging the results of investigative activity aiming at criminal prosecution of a person knowingly uninvolved in the crime committal”).
Today, lawyers with the Committee Against Torture received a copy of this ruling.
Among other things, the ruling states the following: “Unidentified by the preliminary investigation person from the ranks of the Drug Enforcement Department of the Department of the Interior of Russia for Krasnogorsk town of the Moscow region, with intent of creating an appearance of results of investigative activity, false over-estimation of the work statistics, decided to forge the results of the investigative activity. Thus, the unidentified person among the police officers’ ranks, being aware that B.A.Martynov, delivered to the Drug Enforcement Department building at 5 hours 10 minutes p.m. on 1 November 2018, did not have any prohibited substances, issued a note on the results of investigative activity “Monitoring” dated 2 November 2018, putting knowingly false information in it.
After that, implementing the intent for forging the results of the investigative activity, the unidentified person placed a parcel that contained a substance with heroin content (5.91 g) inside the pocket of the jacket put on B.A.Martynov, which subsequently, in the presence of search witnesses, was seized from him during the personal search”.
Boris Martynov was declared a victim in the criminal case. Lawyers with the Committee Against Torture are allowed to represent his interests.