Dzerzhinsky Interdistrict Investigating Department of the Investigative Division of Investigative Committee of the RF for the Nizhny Novgorod region arranged a face-to-face confrontation for the investigation of the criminal case on Sergey Lyapin electricity torture in the police office of Volodarsky region in 2008.  Two participants of these events that happened eight years ago were considered suspects in this criminal case, one of them is acting police officer, and the other has resigned from his position in the Ministry of the Interior. According to the human rights defenders, even though such a long time has passed after these events this case has got every chance to be taken to court.

(Photo: Sergey Lyapin)

We remind that this criminal case was opened in March, 2016. Human rights defenders on behalf of Mr. Lyapin are convinced that initiating the case became possible due to the decision of the European Court of Human Rights which acknowledged the fact of tortures of Sergey in 2014 and stated that the investigative authorities did not conduct adequate investigation at the national level, so on 20 January this year the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation made a ruling to resume the proceedings of Lyapin’s case.

According to Albert Kuznetsov, the lawyer of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture representing the interests of Sergey Lyapin, in the beginning of one of these face-to-face confrontations the investigator asked the victim if he could recognize the man sitting in front of him.

– Of course, I do. How is it possible to forget after everything I had to live through! – that’s how Sergey Lyapin responded; he still has serious health problems that were caused by the   electricity tortures. – It is still hard for me to remember those events. I have to meet my offenders again face to face, and they, in their turn, accuse me in lying and keep on trying to present me as a petty thief in this investigating.
 
Kusnetsov, who was present at the face-to-face confrontations, says: “One of the suspects still works in the law-enforcement authorities, and the other has resigned from the Ministry of the Interior. During the face-to-face confrontation it was evident that these echoes of the past were quite unexpected for them: now they were in the place of examinants and suspects with chances to end up at the defendants’ bench. – Now their position is much weaker than before when initiating the case was out of the question and when the police officers were sure in their own impunity and told Lyapin cynically about it many times. The fact that the case now has certain suspects (even though such a long time has passed) is a definite achievement. I assume that this case has every chance to be taken to court and end up with imposing a sentence”.