Lawyers of the Committee for Prevention of Torture filed a court complaint in the interests of Tamara Kuznetsova on compensation of moral damage inflicted to her by inefficient investigation of the crime report: back in 2013 Kuznetsova complained to the Investigative Committee about the actions of the police officers who, according to her, illegally applied physical force to her.
(Tamara Kuznetsova)
73-old Tamara Kuznetsova applied to the Committee Against Torture in March 2014. In her complaint Kuznetsova described that on 17 September 2013 she was getting back from her country house with her daughter Elena. The women were carrying flowers and vegetables. Near the Rechnoy Vokzal metro station Elena parted with her mother for some time to visit a shop. According to Tamara, at that moment the police officers approached her (as it will turn out later, they were the police officers of the Levoberezhny District of Moscow – author’s comment), who, having noticed the vegetables, came to the conclusion that she was engaged in illegal trade.
According to Kuznetsova, despite the fact that she did not render any assistance, one of the police officers grabbed her and started to pull her forcing her into the service vehicle (according to the medical report from the first aid station, Kuznetsova had bruises of left shoulder and left forearm).
After having been delivered to the Department of the Interior for Levoberezhny District of Moscow a report on administrative violation was drawn up with regard to Tamara Kuznetsova under Article 11.13 of the Code of Moscow on administrative violations («Course of trade, rendering services out of locations assigned for that»). Later on the prefect’s office inflicted penalty of her, however, the court subsequently quashed this decision, because it was made in absence of Kuznetsova.
«They gave me some documents to sign. I did not read them, as I was very worried and I felt sick. When I signed the documents I called Elena and she told me she would soon come. I waited for my daughter, and since I was sick, an ambulance was called for me – they gave me an injection and a pill. After that we went home together with Elena», – Tamara Kuznetsova recalled the circumstances of that day.
On the next day Tamara’s daughter Elena filed a crime report to the Investigative Committee with regard to this incident.
On 7 October 2013 this report came to the Golovinsky Interdistrict Investigative Department of the Chief Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee for Moscow which was supposed to conduct a check. However, instead of this, the head of the Investigative Department, violating the Criminal Procedural Code of the RF redirected the crime report to the staff inspection of the Department of Interior for the Northern Administrative District of Moscow. For a whole year, till 29 September 2014 Golovinsky Interdistrict Investigative Department was thoroughly avoiding its procedural duties, ignoring even the Prosecutor’s Office ruling (where lawyers of the Committee Against Torture applied with a complaint) on the necessity of conducting the check by the Investigative Committee.
As a result for a year and nine months of the crime report check the investigation passed three refusals to initiate criminal proceedings, two of which were declared illegal. Human rights defenders intend to appeal against the last refusal shortly.
«Up to now, over almost three years after the incident, Tamara Kuznetsova has not been questioned by the investigator. Up to now neither Tamara nor we are able to obtain the results of the forensic medical expert examination which had been performed a long time ago, and the investigator for some strange reasons does not want to request this data in the bureau of the forensic medical examination. The doctors who assisted Tamara at the police department were not questioned. Instead of that the investigative bodies restricted themselves to the police officers explanations exclusively, – lawyer of the Committee for Prevention of Torture Dmitry Piskounov comments. – Moreover, the investigators of the Golovinsky Interdistrict Investigative Department continue to violate the requirements of the Criminal Procedural Code of the RF, which set maximum possible timeline for crime report check at thirty days. After the second refusal to initiate criminal proceedings was quashed, the investigator issued a new refusal. After the check was once again resumed in January of this year, this time it lasted for forty four days».
Dmitry Piskounov also points out that the investigators and the superiors of the Golovinsky Interdistrict Investigative Department are ignoring the letters from the investigative department of the Investigative Committee of the RF for the Northern Administrative District and the Golovinskaya Interdistrict Prosecutor’s Office, who confirm that a red tape took place with regard to Kuznetsova’s complaint and a reasonable timeline for criminal proceedings is violated.
In this regard the lawyers of the Committee for Prevention of Torture, representing the interests of Tamara Kuznetsova, submitted a lawsuit to the District Court of Moscow claiming a compensation for moral damage inflicted to her by inefficient investigation.