«I was striken down to the floor. I hit my head and lost consciousness». «Golos» movement coordinator Vladimir Yegorov described how law- enforcement officers applied force against him during the search.

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18 October 2022

НАСТОЯЩИЙ МАТЕРИАЛ (ИНФОРМАЦИЯ) ПРОИЗВЕДЕН, РАСПРОСТРАНЕН И (ИЛИ) НАПРАВЛЕН ИНОСТРАННЫМ АГЕНТОМ «КОМАНДА ПРОТИВ ПЫТОК» ЛИБО КАСАЕТСЯ ДЕЯТЕЛЬНОСТИ ИНОСТРАННОГО АГЕНТА «КОМАНДА ПРОТИВ ПЫТОК» | 18+

On 5th of October, in several regions of Russia a search at the «Golos» movement activists was conducted. The movement is dealing with independent monitoring of the elections, trains the observers and provides legal assistance to the voters. In August 2021, «Golos» was declared a foreign agent.   

Vladimir Yegorov applied to the Moscow branch of the Crew Against Torture and told human rights defenders that on 5 October at about half past nine a.m., some unknown people pulled a bell and asked to open the door. According to Yegorov, there were five of them, and they were in civilian clothes. They said that the office was going to be searched, and in a few minutes masked people wearing   bullet-proof vests came in. Vladimir was informed that he was apprehended and his phone was to be handed in. When he attempted to switch off his phone, two people in black masks made a rush at him, – Yegorov recalls.     

«They seized me in such a manner that twisted my arm. My phone fell on the ground; they stroke me face down. I hit my head against the tiled floor and lost consciousness» 

According to Vladimir, he regained consciousness when he was on a sofa, handcuffed, having a sharp headache, his arm hurt, too, and felt numb from the tight handcuffs bracelet. One of the officers told Yegorov he would have to face punishment for offering resistance to police. Vladimir asked to call an ambulance but the law-enforcement officers did not do that. 

«In about 30 minutes they attempted to remove the handcuffs but it turned out they did not have a key that would fit. 20 minutes later they removed them with the help of a paper clip», – Yegorov said.   

In addition, as he remembers, handcuffs left violet color lines on his hands, and the left hand turned blue.     

The search was completed at about 4 p.m., after that Yegorov was taken to the Department of the Interior for the Basmanny District. The man spent the night at the police department and applied to the first aid station where he was diagnosed with a craniocerebral injury and numerous contusions,    however, his request to be urgently hospitalized was dismissed. On 6 October, the Basmanny District Court of Moscow arrested Vladimir Yegorov for five days under the article on resisting the legal order of a police officer.  

The comment from the CAT lawyer

«Up to the present day, Vladimir Yegorov continues to receive treatment due to his craniocerebral injury. At the same time, we are not aware of any check of the actions of the police officers, and we are planning to submit a crime report shortly. We also are trying to clarify what was the procedure under which Yegorov’s phone was seized, but so far we are not able to familiarize ourselves with the ruling that they refused to show him. In any case, a seizure of a personal phone during the search is illegal, because the personal search is a separate investigative action, that requires a separate court ruling».   

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