Lawyers of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture applied to the Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Orenburg region with a crime report regarding the battery of the football fans of “Krylya Sovetov” football club by law-enforcement officers. According to human rights defenders the actions of law-enforcement officers amount to the act punishable under criminal law.
As we have previously reported, on 2 September of this year in Orenburg in the framework of the 11th Tour of the National Football League a game between local team “Orenburg” and “Krylya Sovetov” from Samara took place. In the very end of the game an incident between the visitant football fans and law-enforcement officers occurred. That is how representatives of “Krylya Sovetov” football club representatives describe it on their official website: “Before 89-th minute the reaction of law-enforcement and safety agencies remained adequate. Until a flare was lit and thrown. After this incident the police officers entered the guest sector and attempted to apprehend the troublemaker during the game right in the sector which contradicts to the Russian Sports Federation recommendations. Such behavior of law-enforcement officers provoked turmoil in the sector itself, after that the Police Special Force forced into it and put their truncheons to use. As a result a lot of fans got injured, including the ones who had nothing to do with the law violation”.
Numerous videos of the indecent were loaded in the Internet, one of them features law-enforcement officers putting the football fans faces against the wall with feet spread apart and kick them and beat them with truncheons. It is seen in the video record that the football fans did not offer resistance and did not attempt to flee.
Lawyers with the Committee for the Prevention of Torture, having examined these video records, came to a conclusion that the actions of the law-enforcement officers amount to violations of federal law “On Police”, as well as have traces of crime under Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“abuse of office using violence and special equipment”). Regarding this on 8 September human rights defenders applied to the Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Orenburg region with a crime report.
Yesterday, 11 September, human rights defenders also applied to the regional Investigative Department, but in the interests of a different victim – “Krylya Sovetov” fan Denis Belyanin.
(Denis Belyanin)
Denis Belyanin from Samara applied to the Committee for the Prevention of Torture for legal assistance on 6 September. He told what happened to him on 2 September at the Orenburg stadium: “After the law-enforcement officers brought me beyond the audience sector, they forced me to stand on my knees, push my head against the concrete wall and put my hands behind my back. After some time I was told to stand up and stand still. When I started to stand up they started to hit me from both sides and beat with rubber truncheons. I felt very sharp pain and at some moment my feet turned numb”.
According to Belyanin, he and several football fans from Samara were taken to the police department where they were forced to stand pushing their heads against the wall, spreading their feet wider than the shoulders and putting their arms behind their backs for six hours. As Denis recalls, he was released after the police officers interrogated him and made him sign an acknowledgement that he did not have any claims against the police officers.
Upon his return to Samara Denis applied to Municipal Clinical Hospital No 1 named after Pirogov, when the doctors diagnosed him with “a contusion, a hematoma of the left ankle joint and leg”.
“We definitely expect that the investigative authorities perform a thorough investigation of our reports on the committed crime and initiating criminal proceedings, – lawyer with the Committee for the Prevention of Torture Albina Mudarisova comments. – In our turn, we continue conducting our own public investigation and collect information related to applying force and special equipment by the police officers against the football fans”.