Yesterday, on July 11, 2011 the Buguruslan district court (Orenburg region) pronounced the verdict under the criminal case against district police officer of the Buguruslan Department of Internal Affairs Valery Prytkov. He was accused of beating Valery Lyamov, resident of Aksakovo (Orenburg region) to death on December 19, 2005. The defendant was found guilty of abuse of office coupled with ill-treatment and use of special devices entailing grave consequences. Nevertheless, Prytkov was found innocent of inflicting severe damage to health leading to victim’s death.

Judge Tatyana Klevtsur punished Prytkov by 3 years of imprisonment in a standard security penal colony.

The crime took place on December 19, 2005. The prosecution claims that Aksakovo resident Valery Lyamov was detained by two district police officer, Prytkov and Abrashin, and abused by Prytkov after that. Then the detainee was taken to the Buguruslan Department of Internal Affairs and literally carried inside.  Emergency doctors summoned with a great delay established Lyamov’s death. The Orenburg Regional Forensic Medical Examination Bureau conducted a forensic examination which determined that Lyamov had had numerous intravital injuries – bruises and abrasions on the face, soft tissues of the head, cerebral apoplexy, ruptures in neck bones, etc. The death was caused by the neck bone fracture.  The victim’s head had been drawn back to the limit and abruptly twisted to the right.  However, the court decided that the prosecution had failed to prove Prytkov’s guilt in that aspect. For this reason the victim’s relatives cannot obtain compensation of moral damage. At the same time, all other injuries were attributed by the court to Prytkov’s actions.

It is worth noting that this is already the third trial. The first one of 2008 resulted in returning the case to the prosecutor’s office for elimination of errors. The second proceedings terminated in 2010 with Abrashin’s aquittal and Prytkov’s conviction (he was sentenced to 5 years of imprisonment).  The verdict was quashed in the part concerning Prytkov by the Orenburg regional court. The case was submitted for retrial to the same court.

Lawyers of the Orenburg office of the Committee Against Torture find this verdict inconsistent with the facts of the case and intent to appeal against it.