The Yoshkar-Ola city court has heard Dmitry Yefremov’s appeal against the refusal to start a criminal case under his application. During this hearing the Prosecutor’s Office representative has for the first time supported the appeal and admitted that the refusal to instigate criminal proceedings is unlawful and subject to cancellation. Moreover, in our case the Prosecutor’s Office representative has mentioned that the Yoshkar-Ola Prosecutor’s Office has done its best to restore the claimant’s rights. He has also noted that they have sent a letter containing materials necessary to cancel the refusal to open criminal proceedings to the head of the Yoshkar-Ola Investigation Department of the Investigation Administration of the Investigation Committee under the RF Prosecutor’s Office for Mariy El.   

We are very much surprised and encourage the position of the Prosecutor’s Office. For the first time it has paid attention to the complexity of the case and volunteered to protect Dmitry Yefremov’s rights. This means that human rights are   protected not only in mind, but also in kind.

It should be mentioned that earlier, during court hearings under similar cases, the Prosecutor’s Office always supported the investigation authorities.  There were cases when, having studied the materials of official checks, the Prosecutor’s Office recommended to cancel refusals to open a criminal case that were unlawful or ill-founded in their opinion, but when the case reached the court the prosecutorial staff invariably changed their viewpoint to the opposite and supported the investigation authorities.

We should, probably, remind you that on 2 January 2008 Dmitry Yefremov was detained and taken to the Zarechny District police station for intoxication in public and defiance to the police. According to the man, in course of detention he was beaten up with police clubs. However, the law enforcement staff deny this fact and only claim that they hit the guy just once on the face unintentionally, of course. Two days later Mr. Yefremov applied to the representation of INGO “Committee against Torture” in the Republic of Mariy-El. The CAT conducted a public investigation and concluded that the state had violated Mr. Yefremov’s rights. The investigation authorities have refused to open criminal proceedings for two years. They have issued numerous decisions not to start a criminal case that have been later canceled as unlawful and unmotivated.