Lawyers of the Committee for Prevention of Torture, representing the interests of Zaur Dadayev, lodged a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights. Human rights defenders think that several Articles of the European Convention were violated in relation to Dadayev – prohibition of torture and the right to efficient investigation.
(Source of photo: http://echr.coe.int)
As we have previously reported, in March of last year Zaur Dadayev informed the members of the Public Investigative Commission of Moscow that on 5 March he was abducted by unidentified security officials, starved for two days while being confided in the basement, handcuffed to the heating radiator, tortured with electricity while the torturers demanded that he confessed of Nemtsov assassination. The Public Investigative Commission report, among other things, featured numerous bruises on the toes, which, as Dadayev explained, were traced of applying wires through which he was tortured with electricity.
However, having initiated a public investigation, human rights defenders immediately faced with difficulties and actual reluctance of the official investigative authorities to conduct the check based on the statement of the two men, suspected of Boris Nemtsov’s assassination, in relation to tortures by law-enforcement officers.
«There are serious grounds to believe that Dadayev was subjected to illegal violence. This is confirmed by the reports of witnesses who saw him healthy prior to the detention, as well as by medical documentation and the report of the Public Investigative Commission. According to the standards of the European Court it is the state that must explain the origin of bodily injuries of a person. However, the Investigative Committee refused to initiate criminal proceedings, having failed to conduct virtually any investigative actions apart from the questioning of the police and the Investigative Committee officers. No forensic medical examination was in place, although we insisted on that. Although the Dadayev’s words that he was subjected to torture, abducted and held up for three days in an unknown location, were virtually not checked, refusal to initiate criminal proceedings was declared legal by the Basmanny District Court of Moscow and by the Moscow City Court, – emphasizes lawyer of the INGO «Committee for Prevention of Torture» Sergey Babinets. – We think that the investigation also violated Dadayev’s right to qualified legal assistance when it refused the possibility for lawyer Evgeny Goubin to meet Dadayev and get detailed explanations from him. Appealing against this refusal which violates basic constitutional rights at the Basmanny Court and at the Moscow City Court did not bring the result either. That is why we were forced to apply to the European Court of Human Rights».