Today, on 13 August 2021, the period of limitations for bringing to criminal responsibility the road patrol officers who beat up Vladimir Arkhipov from Orenburg 10 years ago, expired. During this period of time, the investigators dismissed the claim to open a criminal case for 22 times, and, in addition, they lost one of the key pieces of evidence. From now on, even of the law-enforcement officers are declared guilty, none of them will be punished.
As we have previously reported, according to Vladimir, at night on August 11-12, 2011 he was stopped by the traffic police. For three times Arkhipov was subjected to the breath alcohol test without being shown the results. Despite the fact that he abided by all the requirements of the police officers and proposed that he should undergo medical exanimation himself, one of the officers hit Vladimir in the temple with his fist. After he passed the alcohol test for the third time, the police let him out. Arkhipov got into his own car and shut the doors, for fear of the continuation of the battery. One of the officers opened the trunk door, crushed the rear seats, got inside the car and started choking Vladimir. While Arkhipov was trying to free himself, another policeman opened the door and started applying an electric shocker to him. At the same time, other traffic policemen were hitting him in the head and trunk. The last blow which made Vladimir faint was in the nose.
When Vladimir came to himself he saw that his nose was broken and his T-shirt and jeans were smeared with blood. The police were standing nearby. Vladimir asked them to call an ambulance because he suffered from incoagulability and could die of blood loss. The police officers threw him a cell phone. Vladimir called an ambulance which immediately took him to hospital where he spent 10 days.
Arkhipov was examined by a forensic-medical bureau and provided investigative authorities with the medical documents confirming his injuries: a record stating that he has abrasions and hematomas, a brain concussion, contusions of head and face soft tissues, as well as burns and traces of electrocution on the body.
No criminal case was initiated, the investigators over and over again pass illegal rulings refusing to initiate criminal proceedings, which are quashed after the complaints of the lawyers with the Committee Against Torture. At the present moment twenty-two of such rulings have been issued. In addition, human rights defenders learned that the investigators lost his clinical record, which is crucial for conducting expert medical examination in order to establish the degree of damage inflicted to Vladimir.
Due to reluctance of the investigative authorities to perform effective investigation based on Arkhipov’s complaint against torture, in 2013 lawyers with the Committee Against Torture submitted a complaint on his behalf to the European Court of Human Rights. On 5 July 2018 the complaint was communicated. In the same year, the Leninsky District Court of Orenburg collected 10 000 rubles from the Investigative Committee for the benefit of Vladimir Arkhipov for 7-years’ long red tape in the course of the check of his complaint on the police battery.
On 8 February 2021, the investigator of the first department for major cases investigation with the Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee for the Orenburg region Engeny Valuyev issued the 22nd refusal to initiate criminal proceedings which has not been quashed to the present time.
Today, the period of limitations for bringing to criminal responsibility the road patrol officers who beat up Vladimir Arkhipov in August 2011, expired. Even of the law-enforcement officers are identified, none of them will be punished. “From the very first day Vladimir knew the names of those who was beating him. He provided consistent testimony, provided the investigative authorities with a lot of medical documents, underwent a lot of examinations by specialists and experts. Despite all of this, not a single investigator did not dare to open a criminal case. There have been more and more cases like this in the Orenburg region lately. Periods of limitations for torture complaints submitted by our countrymen Vladimir Prytkov, Aleksey Sinegubov, Oleg Elchaninov, Aleksandr Averkiyev have expired. It seems that it is easier for the investigative authorities and their superiors to go for the red tape allowing the police practicing tortures with impunity, than to improve the safety of the region and the confidence with law-enforcement”, — Vladimir Arkhipov’s representative, lawyer with the Committee Against Torture Albina Mudarisova comments.