НАСТОЯЩИЙ МАТЕРИАЛ (ИНФОРМАЦИЯ) ПРОИЗВЕДЕН, РАСПРОСТРАНЕН И (ИЛИ) НАПРАВЛЕН ИНОСТРАННЫМ АГЕНТОМ «КОМАНДА ПРОТИВ ПЫТОК» ЛИБО КАСАЕТСЯ ДЕЯТЕЛЬНОСТИ ИНОСТРАННОГО АГЕНТА «КОМАНДА ПРОТИВ ПЫТОК» | 18+
On 15 June 2024, 50-year-old geologist Andrey Boldenko spent the evening in the company of his friends at a nightclub named «Garage». The friends drank alcohol, and at some point Mr. Boldenko began to fall asleep at the table. The employees asked him to leave the club. When Andrey refused to do so, the administrator called the squad of the Russian Guard. The man was taken outside and, as witnesses indicate, he was offered to go home, but he still wanted to return to the bar.
Andrey himself does not remember his arrest well, but, according to the officers of the Guard, who later gave the relevant explanations, when Mr. Boldenko could not be convinced to go home, a conflict ensued between them. The officers put the man on the asphalt and handcuffed him. Mr. Boldenko was taken to the city police station no. 4. By this time, Andrey already had a large abrasion on his head. He was placed in a cell for administrative detainees.
One of the videos obtained by the Crew Against Torture shows Mr. Boldenko banging his hands on the cell’s bars. A police officer comes into the cell due to that noise. A policeman in a black uniform roughly pushes Mr. Boldenko away from the door, then calls an officer of the Russian Guard, who closes the door, making it practically impossible to see what is happening inside the cell. However, from the silhouette of the policeman one can understand that he is actively moving around the cell — this lasts more than four minutes. Mr. Boldenko claims that the policeman was beating him all that time.
There is another video taken 40 minutes later. The door to the cell is open, Mr. Boldenko is lying on the floor in handcuffs, and the same officer, who roughly pushed Andrey away from the door, comes in. The video captured the moment when the policeman steps on Mr. Boldenko with his feet. This is how Andrey remembers it:
«The officer came in and stood on my head with one foot, and with the other foot he stepped on my right elbow, periodically pressing on my head and transferring the entire weight of his body to his leg that was standing on my head.»
Mr. Boldenko was released home only around 17:00, having been given a fine of 500 rubles for hooliganism. The next day, the man underwent forensic medical expertise; he was diagnosed with numerous abrasions and bruises on his head and torso. Besides, Andrey’s hands were very swollen from being in handcuffs for a long time; he could not even tie his shoelaces on his own.
Mr. Boldenko filed a crime report with the Investigative Committee. The investigator of the Committee is still assessing the actions of the police officers.