The Yoshkar-Ola Prosecutor’s Office established a grave violation of the Russian Code of Criminal Procedure committed by officers of the 1st police department of the Yoshkar-Ola Directorate of the Interior while checking Konstantin Almakayev’s crime report concerning non-provision of medical assistance by doctors of the Republican Draft Board.
You may remember that in March the Mariy El representation of the Committee Against Torture received an application form Konstantin Almakayev, who reported that on November 11, 2010 around 9 p.m. in the station square of the village of Sovietsky he had been beaten by a Special Police Task force officer, as a result of which he had sustained a serious injury (skull fracture). Three days later Konstantin was found fit for military service by Draft Board doctors, his complaints about not feeling well were ignored.
On May 24, 2011 Konstantin filed a crime report about doctors’ unlawful actions to the head of the Republican Investigative Administration.
For 9 months the crime report had been referred to various law enforcement bodies, and finally, on August 30, 2011 it was registered as a special archive case in the 1st police department of the Yoshkar-Ola Directorate of the Interior. Meanwhile, the check envisaged in the Russian Code of Criminal procedure has not been conducted yet.
The Interregional Committee Against Torture has lodged a complaint, as a result of which the Yoshkar-Ola prosecutor has obliged the head of the 1st police department to conduct a check.
It must be noted that such attitude of the police towards crime reports is inadmissible and breaches the law. For instance, Article 12 of the Police Act obliges the police to accept crime reports, register and check them, as well as inform applicants about the progress of dealing with their crime reports within established time frames.