After two months, the Rosgvardiya decided to perform a check of the fact of the battery of the detained and shooting with blanks at one of them

News

21 May 2021

Head of the Chief Directorate of the Rosgvardiya for the Krasnodar Territory Georgy Medoyev assigned conducting an agency check with regard to complaints of several residents of the Kuban Territory: they claim to have been beaten by law-enforcement officers during apprehension and at the police department, and that one of them was shot at with blanks. Despite the fact that a video record of the apprehension that captured the unjustified brutality of law-enforcement officers, was brought out two months ago, the check in the agency started only now – after the application of lawyers with the Committee Against Torture.

As we have previously reported, on 17 March 2021, Andrey Popov from the Rogovskaya village in the Krasnodar Territory applied to the Committee Against Torture for legal assistance. He told human rights defenders that on 10 March at about 3 a.m. he and a friend of his Sergey Duz’ came to the Kalininskaya village to a farm of his acquaintance Nikolay Bondarenko, where they were apprehended and beaten up by law-enforcement officers.

“Myself and others were put on the ground face down and then they started to hit me in the head, body, arms and legs. Main hits were in the area of the kidneys and the head area. They applied the butts of machine guns with which they hit me in the area of my back. They also shot blanks in my back threatening to shoot me. After that we were taken to the police department”, – Popov informed.

Popov, Duz’ and Bondarenko were taken to the Department of the Interior for the Kalininsky District, where, according to Andrey, the law-enforcement officers started to beat him up, demanding that he confessed of thefts of cows and heating boilers.

“In the police room they started to demand that I wrote a full confession. Since I refused, one of the officers hit me in the area of my left eye. After that one of the police officers went out of the room and brought two Special Police Force officers with him who started to hit me a lot of times in my chest, my ribs, kidneys, legs. In total, I received about twenty blows. I agreed to write a full confession and the Special Police Force officers went out of the room”, – Aleksey describes.

Before Popov is put to the Temporary Detention Facility, officers of the Central District Hospital of the Vyselki District performed a medical examination of Popov and diagnosed him with a bruise of the soft tissues of the face and a contusion of the kidneys.

Later on, a criminal case against Andrey Popov and Sergey Duz’ was opened under item “b” Part 2 of Article 158 of the Criminal Code of the RF (“home-invasion robbery»). On 13 March, the court selected a measure of restraint for them in the form of detention. Now both of them are in the Temporary Detention Facility.

On 19 March, Nikolay Bondarenko applied to human rights defenders for legal assistance. He informed that on 10 March he was at his farm, when early in the morning, an acquaintance of his, Andrey Popov, came to him and offered to buy some cows. At this moment, several vehicles entered the territory of the farm, out of which people in camouflage uniform came, they were masked and armed with machine-guns and shouted “Face down! On the ground!”

“When I lay on the ground, there were about five people in camouflage uniform near me. They demanded that I lay and did not move. They also demanded that I told them how many cows and heating boilers I stole. I told them that I did not steal cows, and after that they started to hit me. In total I received ten blows all over my body. The battery stopped when someone mentioned that I was the owner of the farm”, – Bondarenko recalls.

After that the police officers took him to the Department of the Interior for the Kalininsky District. There, according to Nikolay, law-enforcement officers brought him inside one of the rooms and started to demand that he confessed of theft of cows and heating boilers. After he refused, two men in camouflage uniform and masks started to hit him with fists, knees and legs all over his body.

“At about five in the evening I agreed to provide confessions, because I felt sharp pain in the ribs area. My heart started aching, as well, and I felt the disturbances of my heart rhythm, and I was worried that the hits in the heat area that I received in large numbers, may lead to my death”, – Bondarenko described.

After that Nikolay was released from the police department.

Later on, based on the results of the medical forensic examination, Nikolay Bondarenko was diagnosed with the following: “Physical damage in the form of extravasations in the area of the rib cage, upper left and lower left limbs, bruises in the area of the right lower limb”, as well as with “closed fracture of the 8th, 9th, 10th ribs on the left without dislocation of bone fragments, contusion of the knee joint”.

In the course of the public investigation, lawyers with the Committee Against Torture obtained video records of apprehension of Andrey Popov, Sergey Duz’ and Nikolay Bondarenko, that captured the unjustified brutality of law-enforcement officers.

On 19 March, human rights defenders applied to the Investigative Committee on behalf of Andrey Popov and Nikolay Bondarenko with a crime report.

On 18 April, Sergey Duz’ also applied to the Committee Against Torture for legal assistance. He informed that during apprehension the officers were hitting his face, ribs, feet, and after he was taken to the police department, they continued to beat him up demanding that he confessed of the cows’ theft.

On 28 April, Senior Investigator of the First Section for Major Cases with the Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of the RF for the Krasnodar Territory Dmitry Kalinchikov issued a ruling on opening a criminal case under item “a” Part 3 of Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the RF (“abuse of office using violence”) with regard to Deputy Head of Police (Operations) of the Department of the Interior for the Primorsky-Akhtarsky District Evgeny Volkov, as well as with regard to unidentified persons under items “a”, “b” of Part 3, Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the RF (“abuse of office using violence and weapons”).

Back on 24 March, lawyers with the Committee Against Torture submitted an application to head of the Chief Directorate of Rosgvardiya for the Krasnodar Territory Georgy Medoyev with a request to conduct an agency check with regard to the circumstances described in the complaints of Andrey Popov and Nikolay Bondarenko. Yesterday, human rights defenders received a response to their application, according to which on 19 May of this year, an agency check is started in the department.

“It causes bewilderment that it took the superiors of the territorial Rosgvardiya so long to start an agency check taking into account that the video of the apprehension appeared in the internet two months ago. After that they should have taken the initiative to initiate the check, – lawyer with the Committee Against Torture Ilya Platonov comments. – But we hope that during their check the Rosgvardiya representatives will identify all the officers involved in the battery of our applicants and will inform us on the disciplinary measures taken against them, as well as send the materials of the agency check to the investigator who is investigating the criminal case”.

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