Investigating department for Severniy administrative district of Orenburg city under the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of Russia has initiated criminal proceedings concerning exceeding official powers by staff members of penal colony № 4, committed in respect of inmate Pavel Seliverstov.

(Photo: RIA Novosti)

According to the decision issued by the investigator in charge of the case, on 24 September 2012 prisoner Seliverstov, when being escorted inside the special housing unit of the colony, sustained bodily injuries, namely pneumothorax caused by closed fracture of the eighth rib in the scapular line.

The victim applied to the Orenburg regional branch of the INGO «Committee Against Torture» for legal assistance. He described the events as follows. Three staff members of the colony, during personal search conducted before placing the man into a cell, found a cigarette pack which Pavel had with him. The servicemen ordered to give the pack away to them, but Pavel objected that the pack belonged to him and was to be kept in the store-room for him. It was this disobedience which must have caused the severe battery which lasted for at least 7 or 10 minutes.

«A criminal case was opened in two months after the relevant crime complaint was filed with the Investigative Committee, and only after our lawyers had repeatedly appealed against numerous acts and omissions of the investigative body officers. That is why the fact that we have attained initiation of criminal proceedings can not be regarded as final success. Our main objective now is to obtain an effective investigation into these circumstances and bringing the case before court», says Vyacheslav Dyundin, the Head of the Orenburg regional branch of the INGO «Committee Against Torture».