Today Orenburg Regional Court Judicial Panel has adjourned again the examination of the appellate complaint of the former head of the Colony Settlement No. 11, Filyus Khusainov against the judgment of conviction of the Novotroitskiy City Court, which declared him guilty of committing the crime under item “a, b” part 3 Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Abuse of office performed using violence or weapons”), and sentenced him to three years of prison in a standard regime penal colony. This time the representative of the Prosecutor’s Office applied to adjourn the hearing in order to present additional evidence of Khusainov’s guilt to the judicial panel.
As we have previously reported, according to victim Sergey Nikonorov, former head of Penal Colony-Settlement No.11 Filyus Khusainov used threats and created unbearable conditions to force him and other convicts to perform construction works at his summer cottage.
Human rights defenders started working on this situation after 26 July 2013, when Irina Balashova applied for help. According to the woman, her partner Sergey Nikonorov servicing his sentence in Penal Colony No. 13, was systematically beaten, and threatened to be raped by the staff of Penal Colony (settlement) no. 11 which is headed by Filyus Khusainov. The treatment had been caused by Nikonorov’s refusals to work at construction sites, and his forced labor complaints lodged with the Investigative Committee and the Prosecutor’s Office.
In particular, Sergey told us in details how he was building a country house and a sauna for head of Penal Colony-Settlement No.11 Filyus Khusainov. Nikonorov insisted that during the check of the testimony on site he can indicate such details which cannot be known to a stranger, and even to the owner of the constructed facilities himself, but only to the immediate performer of the construction work.
In the course of the judicial proceedings former head of Penal Colony Settlement No.11 admitted his guilt, but only partially, denying his guilt in the part of using a fire-arm for the purpose of the victim Nikanorov intimidation. However, the court, having evaluated all the cumulative evidence, came to the conclusion that Khusainov used fire-arm during committing the crime. In particular, the victim precisely described the appearance of the gun before the traumatic weapon was seized in the course of the search in the Khusainov’s apartment. In addition, witness S., who was refurbishing the internal premises of a country house, stated that he heard a loud bang during Khusainov’s visit to the construction site. A dent on the stainless steel sheet of the fencing, which, according to the expert examination, could be made by the bullet fired from a traumatic gun, completes the picture.
On 4 May 2016 judge of the Novotroitskiy City Court Ekaterina Rodygina passed a judgment of conviction to former head of Penal Colony-Settlement No.11 of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for the Orenburg region Filyus Khusainov. He was declared guilty of committing the crime under item «а» part 3 Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation («abuse of office performed using violence or with a threat of its use») and sentenced to three years of prison term in a standard regime penal colony. In addition, Khusainov is debarred from holding a public office within two years.
The convicted defendant, dissatisfied with the judgment of conviction, submitted an appellate appeal against it. On 13 July of this year the judicial panel of the Orenburg Regional Court on criminal cases satisfied the motion of the Prosecutor’s Office representative and returned the criminal case back to the Novotroitskiy City Court in order to consider the comments to the court records.
In the course of today’s hearing the representative of the Prosecutor’s Office applied to adjourn the hearing in order to present additional evidence to the judicial panel proving that Khusainov used a traumatic weapon so as to force the victim to build the country house.
“In my opinion, the criminal case materials include enough evidence of the fact that Khusainov used traumatic weapon “to motivate” convicts to perform construction work. But, apparently, the prosecuting official considered that he needed to present additional evidence for greater cogency. The next hearing will be on 31 August at 12 p.m. I hope this day the judicial panel will close the chapter on the issue of the legitimacy of the delivered verdict”, – says Albina Mudarisova, a lawyer from the Committee for the Prevention of Torture who was present at today’s hearing.