Officers of the Pre-Trial Detention Facility No.6 in Vladikavkaz denied a lawyer access to Bagaudin Yevloyev, who is complaining about tortures by law-enforcement officers. It was unlawfully demanded that the lawyer presented a permit to be involved in the criminal case, the availability of which is not provided by the Russian legislation.
On 19 August 2020, Lyubov’ Yaryzheva from Sagopshi settlement of the Republic of Ingushetia applied to the Committee Against Torture for legal assistance. She informed human rights defenders that, on 6 August, her son Bagaudin Yevloyev was detained by the FSB officers at his house during a counter-terrorism operation.
“I paid attention to the fact that the left foot of Bagaudin was heavily swollen in the area of the foot step, on the toe finger there was a bruise with dried up blood. I asked him how he got this injury. Bagaudin answered that his foot was hit with a gun club when he was dragged down from the garret”, – Lyubov told us.
During the whole night there was a search in Evloyev’s house. At that time, according to Lyubov’, the police officers did not allow Bagaudin to sit, despite the pain in the swollen foot, did not allow him to use his nasal drops, without which Bagaudin can hardly breathe after the nose fracture, neither did they eased off the handcuffs. As it became known to her from the words of duty lawyer Alan Aylarov, subsequently, Bagaudin’s leg was put in plaster.
Several days after the apprehension, Bagaudin informed defense lawyer Tsezar’ Pukhayev that FSB officers were torturing him with electricity by attaching wiring to his earlobes, as well as beat him up. According to Evloyev, this was happening in the building of the Department of FSB for the Republic of Ingushetia in Magas and in the building of the Department of FSB for the Republic of North Osetia in Vladikavkaz.
Lawyers with the Committee Against Torture sent defense lawyer Magomet Aushev to Temporary Detention Facility No.6 of Vladikavkaz, where Bagaudin Evloyev is kept at the present time, in order to obtain a detailed explanation of the circumstances of applying physical violence against him.
On 24 August, Magomet Aushev attempted to go to Bagaudin, however, the officers of the temporary detention facility demanded a clearance to get involved in the criminal case from the senior investigator for major cases with the Second Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of the RF Aleksey Severilov, in the proceedings of whom the Evloyev’s criminal case is. Aushev explained to the Temporary Detention Facility officers that he was not intending to get involved in the criminal case and intends only to question the apprehended person with regard to his torture complaints. Despite this, the detention facility officer contacted investigator Severilov over the phone and gave the phone to the defense lawyer. Magomet Aushev told the investigator that he was intending to visit Bagaudin Evloyev at the Pre-Trial Detention Facility, but he will not ask a permission for that as it is not provided by the law. The investigator replied that in this case he was not allowing access to the Pre-Trial Detention Facility for Aushev.
“The problem of lawyers’ access to Pre-Trial Detention Facilities appeared long time ago, – lawyer with the Committee Against Torture Dmitry Piskounov comments. – Back in October 2001, the Constitutional Court established its position with this regard in decree No. 14-P. It amounted to the statement that demanding that a lawyer shall mandatorily receive from the investigator, in the proceedings of whom the criminal was, a permit to be involved in the case, deprive the defendant or a suspect from timely qualified legal assistance and violate the principle of equality of the parties in the trial”.
In 2015, lawyer Evgeny Goubin faced the identical problem, when he was trying to visit Zaur Dadayev at the Pre-Trial Detention Facility in Moscow. Dadayev claimed that he was subjected to torture by law-enforcement officers. Current General Prosecutor Igor Krasnov, who at that time used to be senior investigator for major cases under the Chairman of the Investigative Committee, prohibited the lawyer from visiting Dadayev. He claimed in his response that: “Defendant Z.Sh.Dadayev did not provide his consent or request for your involvement in the capacity of his defense lawyer in the criminal case, due to that there are no grounds for visiting the defendant”.
In 2016, President Vladimir Putin paid attention to the practice developed in the Federal Penitentiary Service regarding prohibiting access to lawyers and pointed out that the “General Prosecutor’s Office should deal with this directly”. Soon after that, in April 2017, the changes were introduced to Article 49 of the Criminal and Procedural Code, according to which the lawyer gets involved in a criminal case in the capacity of a defense lawyer after he presents a lawyer’s certificate and an order.
“It is stated very clear now in the Criminal Procedural Code: penal institutions’ officers may demand only a certificate and an order from a defense lawyer. That is it. What was arranged by detention facility officers in Vladikavkaz is a deliberate sabotage of the lawyers’ work and groundless limitation of the right of a convict for legal assistance, – Dmitry Piskounov emphasizes. – We shall certainly appeal against the arbitrariness of the Federal Penitentiary Service and will submit an application demanding an internal check. Meanwhile, we shall have to stay in contact with the applicant via post”.