Oleg Gorbunov from Nizhny Novgorod applied to interregional non-governmental organization «The Committee for Prevention of Torture» for legal assistance. According to him, on 27 March 2016 he was detained and beaten up by the police officers at «Dvigatel revolutsii» metro station. Human rights defenders initiated public investigation based on the application of the Nizhny Novgorod citizen.
(Photo: Oleg Gorbunov)
That is how Oleg Gorbunov described the circumstances of the incident: «About 10.20 a.m. a man in the police uniform came up to me in an underground walkway of «Dvigatel revolutsii» metro station and started to pull my sleeve. He demanded that I showed my passport, but he did not introduce himself and did not show any ID. At that time my passport was not on me that is why the police officer demanded that I went with him. I asked him where I had to go and what for, but the man in the uniform did not explain anything and started to push me in the metro station entrance hall. And what I tried to do is to move forward».
According to Gorbunov, in a few seconds another police officer showed up, and the two of them pulled his hands behind his back and pulled him from the walkway inside the metro station.
«Between the glass doors they handcuffed me and threw me against the floor, as a result of that I hit the wall with the back of my neck. Then one of the police officers sat on top of me and started to strangle me, and the second one kicked me several times. All this lasted for about two-three minutes», – Oleg describes.
According to Gorbunov, after that he was taken to the «Dvigatel revolutsii» metro station police staff room, where in half an hour an ambulance was called to due to sharp deterioration of Oleg’s health. Oleg was taken to City Hospital No.39 where he was diagnosed with contusion of the head’s soft tissues. Later on he was taken to another hospital escorted by one of the police officers in order to check whether he was in the state of intoxication.
«The police officer was very surprised when he learned that the result of the check was negative, – Gorbunov says. – However I was brought again to «Dvigatel revolutsii» metro station, where the police officers could not decide what to do with me for a long time. At last, one of them found a description of a theft suspect who was on the lookout list, and told me that I was apprehended based on that. After that I was taken to the Leninskiy District Police Department, where the police officers put down my explanations of the incident in the metro station and released me without bringing forward any charges».
Later on, according to the traumatologist conclusion, Oleg Gorbunov was diagnosed with the following injuries: contusions of the occipital region of head, ligament tension of the right shoulder joint, contusion of the left side of the chest. According to the neurologist, Gorbunov was also diagnosed with cerebral concussion.
On 4 April 2016 Oleg Gorbunov applied to the Prosecutor’s Office of the Leninskiy District of Nizhny Novgorod concerning the incident happened to him. In accordance with the investigative jurisdiction his application was redirected to the investigative department for the Leninskiy District of the Investigative Committee of the RF for the Nizhny Novgorod region, which is currently conducting the check of the applicant’s arguments.
Lawyer of INGO «The Committee for Prevention of Torture» Vladimir Smirnov, representing the interests of Oleg Gorbunov: «In the framework of the public investigation we questioned witnesses, examined the scene of the incident and received medical documentation, based on which in the nearest future we are going to conduct a medical forensic examination in order to establish the severity of bodily harm inflicted to Gorbunov. We also applied to the Internal Security Department of the Ministry of the Interior for the Nizhny Novgorod region requesting to conduct the police officers agency check».