On October 1, 2012, the Leninsky District Court of Ufa adjudged that a 800-thousand-rouble compensation for non-pecuniary damage be paid to Tatiana Ivanova, the wife of Albert Mukhametzakirov, a teacher of the Russian language and literature, who had been killed by Vladislav Simukhin, an officer from the company of the private security department under the Oktyabrsky Town Department of Internal Affairs.
Let us recall the preceding events. In early May 2010, Tatiana Ivanova, a resident of Ufa, applied to the Representative Office of the Committee against Torture Interregional NGO in Bashkortostan to file an application in regard to the murder of her husband Albert Mukhametzakirov, which had been allegedly committed by policeman Vladislav Simukhin.
(Photo: Vladislav Simukhin, source: http://ufa1.ru)
The human rights activists undertook a public investigation, which revealed that on May1, 2010 Vladislav Simukhin being in a state of alcohol intoxication had received his ordnance weapon to carry out his duties. However, the policeman did not start to fulfill his duties, but instead had some more vodka and went to Ufa carrying his gun and uniform with him. In the capital of Bashkortostan, he continued to have fun together with his friends. On the following day, at about 13.40, being quite tipsy the policeman approached the car driven by Albert Mukhametzakirov – they agreed that Albert would take him to the Demsky District of Ufa.
After Simukhin got in the car, he pai for his ride. But on the way, the driver and the passenger quarreled (undoubtedly, this was partly due to the influence of alcohol); as a result, the officer shot at Mukhametzakirov’s head and then escaped. The driver died of his wound.
Albert Mukhametzakirov lived with his wife and son, worked as a teacher of the Russian language and literature, was a form master, but his salary was small; for that reason, he tried to earn some extra money driving a taxi. Who could think this ride would be his last one…
On May 7, 2010, Vladislav Simukhin surrendered and pled guilty. On May 14, he was officially accused of the crime, and his case was transferred to the Kirovsky District Court of Ufa. In court, Simukhin stated he had committed the crime inadvertently; however, the court shared the affected persons’ position and adjudged Vladislav Simukhin guilty of the crime stipulated by Art. 105, Pt. 1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. He was sentenced to 10 years’ deprivation of freedom to be served in a penitentiary colony with a high security regime.
The human rights activists lodged a civil claim for compensation for non-pecuniary damage to be paid to Albert Mukhametzakirov’s widow Tatiana Ivanova. The court session in the Leninsky District Court was held with the participation of the affected person’s representative, who was an employee of the Representative Office of the Committee against Torture Interregional NGO in Bashkortostan, Anton Fadeyev by name; he upheld all the claims filed and set out irrebuttable arguments to maintain the applicant’s position. The prosecutor’s office also shared the applicant’s points of view and issued a report in support of her claims. Under the law, the Russian Ministry of Finance is to be a respondent in such cases. Its representative protested again satisfying the claims. Eventually, the court granted the claims only in part, in the amount of 800 thousand roubles.
Initially, the amount of all the claims was indicated as 2 mln roubles. Possibly,such an amount might appear huge to someone (as was the case with the Russian Ministry of Finance, which intends to appeal against the court ruling); however, Tatiana Ivanova would be happy to refuse from that money but get her husband back alive. Furthermore, her stresses and sufferings caused her to acquire a coronary heart disease. Members of the Committee against Torture consider the compensation adjudicated to be insufficient and will appeal against the judgment.