The Investigative Committee resumed a check based on the complaint of Aleksandr Kim, a post-graduate of Soil Science Department of the Moscow State University, who claims that a police sergeant applied physical force against him after his refusal to show his passport, as a result he broke the young man’s finger on his left arm. The investigator has twice issued refusals to initiate criminal proceedings based on Kim’s complaint.
(Photo: Aleksandr Kim)
As we have previously reported, in March of this year Aleksandr Kim applied to the Committee for the Prevention of Torture for legal assistance.
According to Aleksandr, on 21 February of this year he was stopped at Pervomayskaya metro station by a police officer who demanded that he showed his ID. In response Mr Kim asked the sergeant to introduce himself and also show his ID. He started to record what was happening with his mobile phone video camera.
Sergeant introduced himself as Andrey Pyshkin, showed his ID and repeated his demand to Mr Kim. When Aleksandr asked, what was the reason of the demand to show ID, the police officer replied that it is necessary in the framework of operation “Migrant. Residential sector”. Having failed to grasp the logical connection between this operation and checking his ID, Aleksandr continued to insist on delivering some legal grounds. In response, the police officer said that Mr Kim had a non-Slavic appearance, and in his opinion, it was a sufficient ground for assuming that his stay in the territory of the Russian Federation was illegal. Having considered Pyshkin’s actions illegal, in fact, discriminating on ethnic grounds, Mr Kim refused to show his ID and went up the escalator. The police officer went with him, holding his right sleeve.
According to Mr Kim, at the turnstiles Mr Pyshkin started to pull him to the police premises nearby. As to Mr Kim, he intended to leave the metro. He held the mobile guard rack with both hands while Mr Pyshkin was pulling his hands. The police officer started to disengage Aleksandr’s fingers from the rack one by one. When Mr Pyshkin used force to pull Mr Kim’s left hand thumb the latter felt a sharp pain. Mr Kim told Mr Pyshkin that he was breaking his fingers; however, the law-enforcement officer ignored his words and continued to apply force.
At that moment, Moscow metro system officer ran up to the men and he helped the police officer to pull Aleksandr’s hands behind his back and, holding them in this position, lead him to the police premises.
– It was humiliating for me to be moved in such a fashion since I did not do anything illegal. The metro system officer immediately left after he brought me to the police premises, and I called for the ambulance, – Aleksandr Kim emphasized.
The arrived medical workers refused to hospitalize Aleksandr, saying that he had no fracture. Instead of being provided medical assistance he was delivered handcuffed to Police department # 6 at the Moscow metro system. There Sergey Zabolov invited him to his office; he introduced himself as “a person in charge of the issue”. Mr Zabolov questioned Mr Kim about the reasons for his apprehension, after that he informed that the actions of his subordinate, Mr Pyshkin, were wrong, and offered his apologies to Aleksandr.
Having left the police department, Aleksandr reached the first aid station, escorted by two police officers, where he was diagnosed with: “closed incomplete nondisplaced fracture of the proximal phalanx base of the 1st finger of the left hand. Bruise of the 3rd finger of the left arm”.
On 16 March the Investigative Department for investigating crimes at the metro system, high security facilities and in the environmental sphere initiated a check regarding this fact. Twice already, on 15 April and 4 May, the investigator issued refusals to initiate criminal proceedings, and both times they were quashed. The last refusal was quashed by the Prosecutor’s Office of the Moscow Metro System on 24 July, however, the material for the new check returned for the investigator’s proceedings only now.
“By the present moment, we cannot say anything positive about the work conducted by the investigation, – lawyer with the Committee for the Prevention of Torture Anastasia Garina says. – Back in the beginning of May, when the first refusal to initiate criminal proceedings was quashed, the investigator was told about the necessity to include the administrative materials and to conduct an additional expert examination. After two and a half months after another refusal to initiate criminal proceedings was quashed using the same grounds exactly. We are extremely dissatisfied with such passiveness of the Investigative Committee and we hope that because of the additional check the gaps in the investigation will be closed”.