For over a year Denis Belyanin, a football fan of “Krylya Sovetov”, a football club from Samara, tries to insist on opening of a criminal case based on the fact of illegal applying violence against him by law-enforcement officers. The investigators issued seven refusals to initiate criminal proceedings, and six of them were declared illegal. In the course of the last check investigator Seyelev only demanded a medical note that Belyanin is not a patient of a drug abuse clinic, and then issued yet another refusal. Human rights defenders are preparing to submit a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights.
As we have previously reported, on 4 October 2017, a criminal case regarding the crime under item ‘a’, part 3, Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“abuse of office using violence”) was initiated regarding the fact of the battery of “Krylya Sovetov” football club fans.
This criminal case was opened with regard to the following events. On 2 September of last 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.
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 Against Torture, having examined these video records, concluded that the actions of the law-enforcement officers involve elements 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.
On 11 September, human rights defenders also applied to the regional Investigative Department, but this time in the interests of a specific victim – “Krylya Sovetov” fan Denis Belyanin.
Denis Belyanin from Samara applied to the Committee Against Torture for legal assistance on September 6. He reported on 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, press my head against the concrete wall and my arms behind my back. After some time, I was told to stand up. When I started standing, they hit me from two sides with truncheons and feet. I felt strong pain and my feet became numb as a result of the beating”.
According to Belyanin, he and several fans from Samara were taken to the City Police Department where they were forced to stand with their head pressing against the wall, feet spread apart and arms behind their backs. According to Denis, he was released only after he signed a document stating that he had no claims against the police officers.
When he returned to Samara, Denis applied to City Clinical Hospital No.1 named after Pirogov, where the doctors registered “a bruise, a hematoma of the left ankle-joint and foot”.
On 30 October 2017, investigator Sergey Novoselov issued a refusal to initiate criminal proceedings based on the fact of Denis Belyanin’s battery, which was quashed two months after by Deputy Head of the Investigative Department Aleksandr Morozov.
In total, for one year of the pre-investigation check based on Denis Belyanin’s complaint, the investigators issued seven refusals to initiate criminal proceedings, six of which were declared illegal and quashed.
The last “refusal” was issued on 30 August 2018 by investigator for major cases of the Investigative Department for the Southern Administrative District of Orenburg of the Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Orenburg region Dmitry Seleyev.
Mr Seleyev considered that the fact of the battery of Denis Belyanin by Rosgvardiya officer is not proven by anything except for explanations of Denis himself, and that is why the investigation did not have sufficient grounds to open a criminal case.
According to lawyer with the Committee Against Torture Denis Iskhakov, who familiarized himself with the materials of the check, after the previous illegal refusal to initiate criminal proceedings was quashed, in the framework of the new check investigator Seleyev only requested a medical note confirming that Belyanin is not a patient of a drug abuse clinic, and once again issued a refusal.
The human rights defender is planning to appeal against this ruling of the investigator.
“This is a disappointing result of the year-long check of Denis Belyanin’s complaint on battery by the police officers: seven refusals to initiate criminal proceedings, six of them are declared illegal, and replacement of the investigator, who did not even find time to question all incident’s witnesses known to him, did not perform visual inspection of the incident scene and failed to conduct other checking activities, – Denis Iskhakov comments. – Taking into account, that the work on Denis Belyanin’s application is performed highly inefficiently, in the nearest future we will submit a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights, and also will apply to Chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia Aleksandr Bastrykin with request to conduct an agency check with regard to the investigators and their line managers who committed red tape”.