After two years since the crime report submittal Zvenigovskiy Interregional Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia for Mary El Republic opened criminal proceedings under Article 286 (3) (a), (b) of Russian Criminal Code (exceeding official powers with the use of violence) against two Traffic Control police officers in relation to illegal violence used against Valentin Aleksandrov from Mary El Republic. It has become possible due to persistence of lawyers working with the Committee Against Torture and personal involvement of Sergey Ryumshin, the prosecutor of the Republic, in this matter.
As we have already reported, a citizen of Morki settlement Valentin Aleksandrov appealed to the office of INGO «The Committee Against Torture» in Mary El Republic; he claimed that the officers of State Traffic Safety Inspectorate (STSI) had beat him during the arrest and had broken his arm.
According to Valentin, on 17 September 2012 he should have gone to a business trip to Arzamas (Nizhegorodskaya region) and taken part in a professional competition for the title «The best fire engine driver». That day early in the morning Valentin left home and drove his own car to his place of work in order to take his fire engine license. However, when he drove past the “Liliya” trading center an officer of STSI demanded that he stopped. Having recalled that he had left his driver license at home Valentin chose a wrong way of saving the situation – he didn’t stop and drove home to get the documents.
Valentin drove into his yard and went for the documents when the police UAZ car came, two officers jumped out and caught up with the forgetful driver at the inner porch. As Valentin tells one of the policemen grabbed his right arm and the other hit him in the face. The further beating continued along with swearing when Valentin fall down. As a final humiliation act they twisted his arms by force, put handcuffs on and then were careful enough to take him to the Central Regional Hospital of Morki.
There a duty doctor wrote a medical examination act, where he stated that Valentin was sober. Next day on the basis of the primary examination forensic medical experts established that Valentin had a closed fracture of the left part of the left ulnar bone with a slight fraction (which is an injury of moderate severity), also bruises on the elbow joints, shoulders, chest, abrasions on the shins, the right forearm and the elbow joints.
A check was carried out by the senior investigator of the Inquiry Department of Committee of Inquiry in Mary El Republic V.V. Petukhov based on the fact of violence used by the officers of the Road Patrol Service; he came to the conclusion that the officers of STSI had used violence without exceeding their authority and on this grounds on 25 October 2012 refused to initiate a criminal action. Later on investigator Petukhov issued two more refusals to initiate criminal proceedings which were appealed against by the human rights defenders and declared illegal.
The last refusal was issued on 30 September 2013, the complaint against it was filed with the Republican Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee, however, there, too, it was decided that the policemen did not exceed their authority.
Lawyers working with the Committee Against Torture, representing the interests of Valentin Aleksandrov, appealed against this decision at the Yoshkar-Ola City Court. However, prior to court delivering its ruling the prosecutor of Mary El Republic Sergey Ryumshin responded to the appeal of the human rights defenders and submitted a formal request addressing the head of the Republican Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee on initiating criminal proceedings.
«From the moment of application to the Committee Against Torture till the opening of the criminal case we filed sixteen complaints against violations of legislation. Sustained legal efforts were made to influence the position of the Investigative Committee Investigative Department for Mary El Republic, which was reluctant to open a criminal case for two years. In relation with that I would like to point out the principle position of the prosecutor of Mary El Republic Sergey Ryumshin who was defending the constitutional rights of Aleksandrov and, having agreed with our arguments, demanded to open a criminal case. In present time we are going to continue rendering legal assistance to Valentin and for now will be representing his interests in the course of the pre-trial investigation», – comments the head of the INGO “The Committee Against Torture” branch in Mary El Republic Dmitry Yalikov.