As it has become known to human rights defenders from the Committee Against Torture the Balakhinsky Interdistrict Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia for the Nizhny Novgorod region initiated a criminal case based on the fact of violence by the officers of the Department of the Interior for the Balakhninsky District used against Laziz Niyazov from Bolshoye Kozino settlement, who is declared the affected party in the criminal case. As we have previously reported, Laziz Niyazov from Nizhny Novgorod region applied to the Committee Against Torture for legal assistance. According to the applicant, late in the evening of 22 May this year four police officers demanded to go with them to the police department, but instead of this they took him to the forest and beat him up. Notably, in a few days one of the visitors came to Laziz again. This time he wanted to apologize.
(According to Laziz Niyazov, this vehicle was used to take him to the forest)
Laziz Niyazov lives in Bolshoye Kozino settlement in the Nizhny Novgorod region with his wife, elderly mother and two kids. In his application to the human rights organization Niyazov reported that late at night on 22 May 2015 four men came up to his house, in one of them the applicant recognized a district police officer. They demanded that Niyazov goes with them to the police department.
According to Laziz, instead of that thee unbidden guests took him to the forest near his house, where they beat him up demanding that he confessed of theft and provided false witness against his colleagues. As Niyazov recollects, threats continued in the police dispatch center of the Department of the Interior of Russia for Balakhninsky district, where he was taken after execution in the forest, however, he had not confessed. After midnight Niyazov was released, he applied to the first-aid station right away, where he was diagnosed with cerebral concussion, and a lot of bruises all over his body were registered.
On 25 May Laziz Niyazov applied to the Committee Against Torture. In the course of public investigation human rights defenders questioned witnesses, conducted additional medical examination of the applicant, submitted a crime report to the Investigative Committee, filed a number of motions on including the data obtained in the course of public investigation to the materials of the official check, for example, medical documentation, as well as video and audio records related to pressure which Niyazov was subjected to.
One of the police officers, whom Laziz identified as one of his offenders, came to the applicant’s house on 2 June this year and apologized for «that case», saying that Laziz was «framed». This meeting was recorded with a video surveillance camera that was installed by the Committee Against Torture members in order to provide the applicant’s safety. The content of the conversation was also recorded by Niyazov on his dictaphone recorder.
And today the human rights defenders received a copy of the ruling by the investigator of the Balakhinsky Interdistrict Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia for the Nizhny Novgorod region Mr.Knyazhev on declaring Laziz Niyazov the affected party under initiated criminal case No. 45436.
«From the moment when we applied to the Investigative Committee till the criminal case was initiated only two and a half weeks passed, which is a rare case in our experience. We think that the video record of a police officer apologizing to Laziz which was attached to the check materials after our motion played important part in this case. We also would like to mention the head of the investigative authority which conducted the check, who assured me that everything will be done for objective and full-scale investigation of this incidents, and he is keeping his word. In our turn, we are ready to participate in the criminal case investigation in the capacity of the victim’s representatives and render him legal assistance at the stage of the preliminary investigation», – comments lawyer of the Committee Against Torture Sergey Shounin, representing the interests of Laziz Niyazov.