НАСТОЯЩИЙ МАТЕРИАЛ (ИНФОРМАЦИЯ) ПРОИЗВЕДЕН, РАСПРОСТРАНЕН И (ИЛИ) НАПРАВЛЕН ИНОСТРАННЫМ АГЕНТОМ «КОМАНДА ПРОТИВ ПЫТОК» ЛИБО КАСАЕТСЯ ДЕЯТЕЛЬНОСТИ ИНОСТРАННОГО АГЕНТА «КОМАНДА ПРОТИВ ПЫТОК» | 18+

Magomed Magomedov and Amir Makhmudov are residents of Gergebil, a village situated in the Republic of Dagestan, Russia. As is traditional in the Caucasus region, many in the village know each other and do not pass by if they see injustice. In mid-July, police officers stopped Magomedov’s car and, after a verbal conflict, according to Magomed, beat him. A fellow villager, Amir, stood up for him. As a result, the men both ended up at the police station.

Magomed Magomedov works part-time as a private taxi driver and on 16 July, he drove a fellow villager from Gergebil to Makhachkala. On the way back, his car was stopped by policemen; the officers began to search it. The police suspected Mr. Magomedov of transporting drugs. They searched the car and Magomed himself, but did not find any prohibited substances. Mr. Magomedov was very afraid that the police would confiscate the car and threw the car keys into the grass. As the man recalls, that step angered one of the officers:

«The policeman swung his right hand at me and punched me in the eye.»

Mr.  Magomedov indicates that the scene was seen by about ten of his fellow villagers. The man was handcuffed and put in a police UAZ vehicle. It was very stuffy in the car, he asked to open the door or window, since he suffers from a heart condition. Another officer approached the car, opened the door and, as Magomed claims, began to kick him.

These events outraged Amir Makhmudov, who stopped on the side of the road when he saw that his fellow villager was being searched and beaten. He took out his mobile phone to film it.

«They put me face down on the asphalt and hit me in the back several times. The policeman broke my phone. I asked them not to beat me because I was being operated on for a hernia in the cervical spine,» recalls Mr. Makhmudov.

Both men were taken to the Gergebil police station. It was evening already. Amir recalls that his neck was hurting badly, and Magomed was also feeling bad. The men asked to call an ambulance, but the police officers were rude to them at first, and then, according to both of the victims, they started beating the arrestees.

«An officer picked me up by the arm, pulled me into the corridor and started hitting me in the stomach. Two more joined in. I started choking from the blows,» states Amir.

Magomed saw all this, and in order to stop the beating of his fellow villager, he took out a knife and started cutting his own arm. Mr. Makhmudov screamed, and more police officers came running to the screams, one hit Mr. Magomedov, and the other officer used a stun gun on Amir.

Amir underlines the following:«I felt a lot of pain, I was shaking, my heart was beating hard. The policeman grabbed me by the beard with his right hand and pulled out a clump of hair. I asked them to stop the lawlessness, and the policeman said: You haven’t seen lawlessness yet. Now I’ll show you.»

After that, Amir, according to his testimony, was stunned several more times, pushed into the wall, and then the arrestees, together with the policemen, gave themselves to prayer in the prayer room, since it was time for the evening namaz.

Subsequently, Amir and Magomed were taken for a medical examination. On the way, Mr. Makhmudov cut his arms and legs with a blade that he carried with him. This was how he planned to end up in a civilian hospital. In such a state, he was brought to Makhachkala for a medical examination. According to Amir, the police washed the blood off him and bandaged the wounds. Neither he nor Mr. Magomedov were taken to the hospital, and after being examined for alcohol intoxication, they were returned to the police station.

The men were detained for two days, no one recorded their injuries, and the ambulance arrived only on 17 July, because Amir was sick. The men were given painkillers and left at the police station.

On 18 July, the Gergebil District Court sentenced Magomed to a fine of 3,000 rubles for disobeying police officers, and Amir to five days of administrative detention under the same Article of the Code of Administrative Offenses.

The men filed a crime report with the Gunibinskiy Interdistrict Investigative Department. An enquiry is currently underway into their allegations. Due to the fact that much time has passed, Magomed Magomedov has no traces of beatings, except for the cuts he inflicted on himself with his knife at the police station. Amir Makhmudov’s medical examination recorded abrasions on his head and thigh (this is where, according to him, he was electrocuted), as well as wounds on his arms and shins.

Mr. Magomedov still cannot recover from what happened. He says he is very scared because his children are growing up in a country where the authorities are committing such lawlessness. He is especially outraged that these officers are his fellow villagers, and he knows almost every one of them by name or knows their relatives.