Today the Orenburg Regional Court Judicial Panel left the verdict unchanged relating to Filyus Khusainov, the former head of colony settlement No. 11 who was found guilty of committing the crime under item “a,b” part 3 Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Abuse of office performed using violence or weapons”), and sentenced to three years of prison in a standard regime penal colony. The verdict of the court of the first instance took legal effect. Now human rights activists from the Committee for the Prevention of Torture representing the interests of Sergey Nikonorov (the victim) in this case, are planning to file a lawsuit for compensation of the moral damage caused by the criminal actions of the former head of the correctional facility.
We remind that, according to victim Sergey Nikonorov, former head of Colony Settlement No. 11, Filyus Khusainov forced him and other convicts to perform construction works at his country house using threats and unbearable conditions of serving the sentence (we wrote about this case).
This story started on 26 July 2013 when Irina Balashova first applied to human rights activists and reported that her partner, Sergey Nikonorov, serving his sentence in Colony Settlement No. 11, was systematically beaten, and threatened to be raped by the staff of the institution which is headed by Filyus Khusainov. This was caused by Nikonorov’s refusals to work at various construction sites, and his forced labor complaints lodged with the Investigative Committee and the Prosecutor’s Office.
In particular, Sergey told us in detail how he was building the country house and the sauna for Filyus Khusainov, the former head of Colony Settlement No. 11. Nikonorov insisted that during the check of the testimony on site he can indicate such details which cannot be known to a stranger, and even to the owner of the constructed facilities himself, but only to the immediate performer of the construction work.
In the course of the judicial proceedings former head of Penal Colony Settlement No.11 admitted his guilt, but only partially, denying his guilt in the part of using a fire-arm for the purpose of the victim Nikanorov intimidation. However, the court, having evaluated all the cumulative evidence, came to the conclusion that Khusainov used fire-arm during committing the crime. In particular, the victim precisely described the appearance of the gun before the traumatic weapon was seized in the course of the search in the Khusainov’s apartment. In addition, witness S., who was refurbishing the internal premises of a country house, stated that he heard a loud bang during Khusainov’s visit to the construction site. A dent on the stainless steel sheet of the fencing, which, according to the expert examination, could be made by the bullet fired from a traumatic gun, completes the picture.
On 4 May 2016 judge of the Novotroitskiy City Court Ekaterina Rodygina passed a judgment of conviction of former head of Penal Colony-Settlement No.11 of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for the Orenburg region Filyus Khusainov. He was declared guilty of committing the crime under item «а» part 3 Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation («abuse of office performed using violence or with a threat of its use») and sentenced to three years of prison term in a standard regime penal colony. In addition, Khusainov is debarred from holding a public office within two years.
The convicted party did not agree with the guilty verdict of the court and filed an appeal. On 13 July this year Criminal Cases Panel of Orenburg Regional Court granted a petition of the representative of the Prosecutor’s office and returned the criminal case to Novotroitskiy City Court to consider the remarks to the court records. The court of first instance considered the remarks to the court records made by the state prosecutor, sustained them completely and after that sent the criminal case again to Orenburg Regional Court that has to examine the complaints made by Khusainov and his defender on merits.
In the course of the hearing that took place on 24 August the representative of the Prosecutor’s Office lodged a motion to postpone the hearing in order to provide additional evidence to the judicial panel proving that Khusainov used a traumatic weapon so as to force the victim to build the country house.
Finally in the course of today’s hearing the court satisfied the motion of the state prosecutor and filed the document proving the purchase of a traumatic gun by Khusainov in 2012. Let us remind you that during the hearings of the court of the first instance Khusainov insisted that he could not have had a weapon at the time of the events described by the victim.
Having listened once again the positions of the parties and the final speech of the person brought to trial for the last time, the court retreated to the chambers. According to the decision of the Orenburg Regional Court Judicial Panel, the verdict of Filyus Khusainov was left unchanged.
Albina Mudarisova, the lawyer of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture, comments on the result of today’s hearing: “We are satisfied with the today’s court ruling and that the verdict has finally taken legal effect. Now it will enable us to appeal to the court representing victim Sergey Nikonorov with a plaintiff’s claim to compensate the moral damages caused by criminal actions of the former head of the correctional facility”.