The Investigative Committee investigator issued a third ruling dismissing the criminal case on neglect of duty of an officer of Krasnodar Pre-Trial Facility No.1. Initially, the investigative authorities were sticking to the theory that the Federal Penitentiary Service officer did not take necessary measures to prevent the conflict of Dmitry Kraskovskiy with his cell mate, during which he was beaten up to death. Now, the Investigative Committee thinks that the detention facility officer’s actions do not contain any element of crime. Lawyers with the Committee Against Torture will be appealing against this ruling.
As we have previously reported, on 16 July 2020, Anna Kraskovskaya applied to the Committee Against Torture for legal assistance. According to her, on 3 June, 2020 her husband Dmitry Kraskovskiy was apprehended by the police officers under suspicion of having committed a crime provided for in item “d” of Part 4 Article 228.1 of the Criminal Code of Russia (“illegal manufacture, sales or transmittal of narcotic substances on a large scale”). After the apprehension, the court took Dmitry into custody at Pre-Trial Detention Facility No.1 of Krasnodar. On 7 July 2020, at about 00.30, Kraskovskiy’s corpse was found in a cell of the Pre-Trial Detention Facility “with bodily injuries in the form of numerous contused wounds of the head, a closed craniocerebral injury”.
Investigator with the Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of the RF for the Central District of Krasnodar Sergey Kalashnikov told Anna that, according to the preliminary version, Dmitry was beaten up to death by his cell-mates: “He said that my husband was beaten by cell-mates who were beating him with a stick which they pulled out of the floor. Trying to cover the cause of death, they attempted to hang him, staging a suicide”.
On the same day, 7 July 2020, investigator Kalashnikov initiated a criminal case on the elements of crime provided for in Part 4 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code of the RF (“intended infliction of severe damage to health which by negligence caused the victim’s death”).
On 14 August, investigator Artem Kosarenko, seconded to the Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of the RF for the Central District of Krasnodar, initiated a criminal case against an unidentified officer of Pre-Trial Detention Facility No.1 of Krasnodar based on the elements of crime provided under part 2 of Article 293 of the Criminal Code of the RF (“negligent homicide”).
Later on, investigator Kosarenko issued two rulings dismissing the criminal case due to absence of the element of crime, however, these rulings were quashed by the Prosecutor’s Office and by the superiors of the Investigative Department as illegal.
On 22 January 2021, the investigator issued the third ruling dismissing the case. Today, lawyers with the Committee Against Torture received its copy.
“We think that investigator Kosarenko came to a groundless conclusion that the detention facility officer’s actions did not contain any element of crime, – lawyer with the Committee Against Torture Ilya Platonov, representing the interests of victim Anna Kraskovskaya, comments. – In particular, the investigator did not provide a legal evaluation of the fact that the junior inspector could not see the significant part of the cell in the door viewer due to his low height and did not inform his superiors about it. In addition, he attempted to take a look at the whole cell by opening the door for food distribution, but one of the prisoners blocked his view. Instead of fixing this obstacle, the inspector just left. We submitted a request to familiarize ourselves with the materials of the criminal case, after that we shall appeal against this illegal ruling and insist on bringing the detention facility officer to criminal responsibility”.