The Moskovsky district Investigation Administration of the Investigation Committee (Nizhny Novogorod) has charged police captain Sergey Kuzmenkov, senior investigator of the Criminal Investigation Unit of the 4th Police Department for Nizhny Novgorod, with abuse of office.
The charge was brought upon the fact of Pavel Guryanov’s beatings in the Moskovsky district Police Department of Nizhny Novgorod on 1 July 2010. Mr. Guryanov had filed a complaint to the investigation authorities and applied to the Interregional Committee Against Torture for help.
On 9 August 2010, upon Mr. Guryanov’s application, criminal proceedings were instigated under cl. “a”, “b”, p.3, Art. 286 of the RF Criminal Code (abuse of office with violent treatment or a threat of violence, as well as with the use of weapon or special tools).
The official investigation and the public investigation carried out by the ICAT revealed that on 1 July 2010 the police had unlawfully detained Pavel Guryanov in his own home. Later he had been taken to Police Department 4 of the Nizhny Novgorod Directorate of the Interior and cruelly beaten.
Specialists of the Committee Against Torture represented the applicant’s interests during the pre-trial investigation and helped to transport victim Guryanov from the rehabilitation centre in Moscow region to Nizhny Novgorod for the purposes of the inquiry.
At present the investigation authorities are preparing an indictment to transfer the criminal case to court. The pre-trial investigation period terminates on 9 November 2010.