Anatoliy Yadykov from Yoshkar-Ola applied to Minister of the Interior Vladimir Kolokoltsev asking him to introduce changes in the order which regulates the procedure of examination fights in the Police Special Force. Anatoliy’s personal tragedy became the reason for this open address – his son Maksim died in December 2014 after the examination fight in the Police Special Force of the Ministry of the Interior for the Mary El Republic. In their turn, human rights defenders, representing the interests of the parents of the deceased, intend to appeal against the ruling on the dismissal of the criminal case, initiated based on the fact of Maksim’s death.
(Photo: Maksim Yadykov)
As we have previously reported, on 15 December 2014 Anatoly Yadykov and Rimma Yadykova applied to human rights defenders for legal assistance. According to the couple, in September of previous year their son Maksim decided to join the Mary El Department of Interior Special Police Force. Having passed the medical examining board with conclusion «fit for service in Special Police Force», on 9 October he arrived at the police unit to pass an exam for physical training. On the same day at around 4 p.m. the young man’s parents received a call from an unknown number and someone informed them that Maksim felt bad during the exam, the ambulance was called, but «it’s nothing at all serious». However, in a while the Yadykov family received another call and this time they were informed that their son was in Yoshkar-Ola City Hospital in the state of coma. The young man’s parents who came to the medical institution were straight away informed that the case was very challenging and the surgery was ongoing.
On the next day at about 9 in the evening Maksim’s parents learned that their son died in hospital without regaining consciousness. Later on the forensic medical examination established that the young man’s death resulted from «a severe cerebral contusion with the brain compression with a left-side subdural hemorrhage, which developed due to a closed craniocerebral injury». According to the expert’s opinion, these injuries resulted from «a quadruple impact of a blunt object».
On 11 October 2014 the Yadykov family applied to the Investigative Department of Yoshkar-Ola Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee for the Republic of Mary El. During eight months the Investigative Department conducted checks based on the results of which it issued four illegal refusals to initiate criminal proceedings.
And only eight months after, on 22 June 2015, investigator of the Investigative Department of Yoshkar-Ola of the Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Mary El Republic Mr.Khoroshavin passed a ruling on the death of Maksim Yadykov after the examination fight in the regional Special Police Force. The criminal case was initiated based on Part 1 Article 109 of the Russian Criminal Code («infliction of death by negligence»).
On 22 February 2016 new investigator for this case Stanislav Solovyev passed a ruling on dismissal of the criminal case due to absence of the element of crime. «Here the fortuitous event represented by guiltless harm-doing is present» – that was the opinion of the investigator.
The investigation’s stance was confined to the fact that, according to the regulatory document, during the examination fight the presence of a medic with graduate medical education and special knowledge in the field of sports medicine is not required, and on these grounds the organizers of the examination fight did not violate safety rules and, therefore, cannot be held criminally liable.
At the same time, investigator Soloviev submitted a proposal to head of the Police Special Force for the Mary El Republic to eliminate the circumstances which make the crime possible. In his proposal the investigator suggested to «consider adding compulsory attendance of a medic (graduate medical education) to the rules of morale and endurance testing for Police Special Force service together with the check of a candidate’s general well-being and arterial blood pressure at all the stages of the testing, i.e. immediately prior to it, in the breaks between the rounds and immediately after its completion».
In addition the investigator suggested considering holding Deputy Head of the Republican Special Police Force liable since he failed to take adequate measures for proper organizing and conducting the testing.
Anatoliy Yadykov, in his turn, having carried out his own investigation and analyzed eight similar tragic cases, came to the conclusion that reasons of candidates’ death during the examination fights lie in a very vague wording of departmental order No.210 «On Approving the Instruction on Organizing the Use of Personnel and Equipment of the Ministry of Interior Special Force Territorial units during performing special tasks».
According to Yadykov, this Instruction «does not contain a single clear criterion on the ways to verify the candidate’s morale and endurance and how to make a conclusion on non-compliance of a candidate with the existing requirements before ensuing of lethal consequences for him, or in what way the adequate safety measures have to be organized. There is no criterion which can be used for drawing up a conclusion about active fighting and what is to be done if a candidate is not able to maintain active fighting».
In this context Anatoliy Yadykov asks the Minister of the Interior of the Russian Federation to «consider changing order No.210 in order to ensure thorough organization of safety measures during testing: mandatory medical support and clear definition of «active fighting», or to develop a new method for testing the candidates for employment in the Ministry of the Interior».
«Presence of a qualified medic at the examination fights in the Special Police Force will definitely reduce the risk of accidents. Therefore, it is necessary to formalize in legislation mandatory medical support during examination fights. By submitting the proposal to the head of the Special Police Force the investigator acknowledged that the state, represented by the Ministry of the Interior department, failed to provide all possible measures for Maksim Yadykov’s life sustaining. However, in the opinion of the Investigative Committee’s officer, it is not enough for lodging of charges, – lawyer of the Committee for Prevention of Torture Dmitry Yalikov, who represents the interests of Maksim Yadykov’s parents, comments. – Only recently we have become able to familiarize ourselves with the materials of the criminal case, and in the nearest future we will appeal against the ruling on its dismissal. Apart from that, we are going to file a claim concerning the compensation of moral damage inflicted to the parents by the death of their son».